A series of truly alternative 'classic' albums by Texan noise rock mavericks Butthole Surfers are being reissued in remastered form by Matador Records.
Remastered audio of the first three releases in the series - the band's first full-length album Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac, originally released by Touch & Go Records in 1984, live EP PCPPEP, released that same year, and 1986's Rembrandt Pussyhorse album - are now available on streaming services, with vinyl reissues to follow on March 22.
To mark the arrival of these upgraded sonic artefacts, Matador have released a new video for the song Butthole Surfer, featuring rarely seen photographs of the San Antonio band shot by Gail Butensky during the 1980s.
Watch the video below:
In an entertaining mini-essay penned by veteran US underground music critic Byron Coley, the releases are hailed "as the sound of the Butthole Surfers before they were name-checked by Kurt Cobain".
Coley writes: "The early-mid '80s had their share of insane combos – The Birthday Party, Black Flag and Minor Threat had the raw power to melt your mind in seconds. SWANS, Einsturzende Neubauten and Big Black created enough overwhelming sonic pressure their sounds might actually flatten you. And Sonic Youth displayed such a dizzyingly unpredictable mix of art, pop culture and violence you'd sometimes leave their shows drooling. The Buttholes shared elements with all of these groups, but added a wild psychedelic edge and a propensity for bizarre spectacle.
"By the time they started touring to preview and then support the revamped version of Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac, the Buttholes' live show was an berserk, evolving extravaganza of strobes, smoke, clothespins, naked dancing, bullhorns, raving lunacy and music that was as madly mind-blowing as that of any band who ever lived. Another Man's Sac was also wildly advanced over the previous records. Parts of the LP swaddled their punk edge inside so much oink and babble you almost couldn't discern it, with other segments stretching out into a mutant form of garage blues, and others just swirling out of control.
"This evolution continued on Rembrandt Pussyhorse, which featured a set of tunes for which the Buttholes' rock-based form destruction was mixed with experimental, tape-mangling passages of many flavors. Haynes was handling all audible vocals by this point, and his mastery of post-tongue dynamism was finally in full flight. Meanwhile, their live shows became legendary examples of excess and derangement, and their music just kept getting louder and stranger and more savage. It was the diametric opposite of the hardcore scene from which it had emerged, which was heading in ever more codified and stylistically conservative directions.
"This first batch of reissues is certain to raise the roof for a lot of people who thought they had a pretty good handle on the outer realms of the '80s indie-rock scene. And while the recordings are not the fully immersive experience of the Buttholes in concert, you may still feel as though you've fallen down a rabbit hole the size of Texas itself."
The vinyl reissues can be pre-ordered here.
