Psychic.... Powerless.... Another Man's Sac

For their debut album, after a series of EPs, Psychic…Powerless… expands on the band’s shock-rock origins and delves even deeper into their sonic mischief. Guitarist Paul Leary leads the attack with guitar lines that rarely fall back on tradition and when they do (“Gary Floyd”), it’s to subvert the genre they’re playing with. To some, this will sound like chaotic noise. However, patience and a bizarre sense of humor will help to better understand the distorted chaos of “Concubine,” the noise patrol of “Eye of the Chicken” and the multiple-drummer attack of “Dum Dum” that keeps disappearing in hallucinatory sonic shifts. “Woly Boly” sounds like Elvis Presley having a mental breakdown. “Negro Observer” settles into folk-rock with singer Gibby Haynes unable to sit still. “Butthole Surfer” is more a tribal chant than an actual theme song. “Lady Sniff,’ ”Cherub” and “Mexican Caravan” represent the best of the band to this point with its crazy mutterings, cryptic guitar lines and off-kilter rhythms.