Michael Hurley's music hadn't changed much in the 40-odd years between his first recordings and this 2007 release. In Hurley's case, however, that's a good thing; you wouldn't want his brand of rustic yet eccentric folk to get slick or diluted, and it's not exactly as if he's been overexposed on disc over the course of his lengthy career. This is relaxed, earthy eclectic folk with a sitting-on-the-porch feel, the recording so sparse that you often feel as though you're listening to a solo or nearly solo performance, though in fact three other musicians do help out multi-instrumentalist Hurley over the course of the record.
"Sludge & Tripe" was recorded painstakingly between 2004 and 2008 in a number of derelict houses, basements and studios around London and Bristol, the collective's first album was then stitched together into a twisting, confronting DaDa-rock pronk-pop adventure. Compositions both ape and destroy conventional song structures, as spanners are dexterously jammed into the works. Flirting between ferocious free-jazz improvisations, studio wizardry and meticulously mathematic performances, the album traverses a bizarre progressive landscape while still retaining pop-infused sensibilities. This provides footholds for the ear to cling to, before being pummelled with acrid rubble.