THE WIRE'S BEST OF 2010

Very limited self-released tour-only one-sided LP on clear vinyl from Bill Orcutt of Harry Pussy. Recorded live during his recent tour of New Zealand in Christchurch, this is a more spacious take on the four-string guitar barbarism of A New Way To Pay Old Debts, with long seconds of silence connecting runs of squealing strings that combine iconoclastic Ayler/Beefheart style melodies with wailing wordless vocals that are somewhere between Loren Connors’ early Dagget sides and Blind Willie Johnson circa “Dark Was The Night”. While sacrificing none of the switchblade aggression or hardcore energy of his earlier work, there’s something more overtly ‘beautiful’ and euphoric about his instrumental logic here, with the pugilistic/percussive style of Derek Bailey married to rolling, tumbling melodies and tracks that build to the kind of explosive energy instants of Sonny Sharrock. A singular solo guitar record, but better make it fast. Highly recommended. 300 copies only