Seems Twice

Reviews

Seems Twice Non-Plussed 12″ reissue

Boy howdy is the reissue industrial complex ever fucking exhausting, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Sydney, Australia’s SEEMS TWICE crammed twelve blasts of completely devolved art-punk (the longest of which maxed out at 43 seconds) onto a one-and-done 1980 EP, blitzing through each track with an economical severity befitting Pink Flag-era WIRE, if Pink Flag had been generously splattered with the collapsing primitivism of the URINALS. The original Non-Plussed 7” fetches around half a grand on the current market (that’s about $100 per minute of total runtime) and the prospects of a reissue seemed exceedingly remote as time marched on, until this 12” version appeared out of nowhere last month, an unanticipated answer to years of prayer-like thoughts. Antipodean no wave rhythms scatter in all directions on half-minute burners “Real Arafat” and “Look At It,” like cockroaches after a lightswitch flip—rumbling, almost MINUTEMEN-ish bass grooves collide into flailing spin-cycle drums and frantic guitar scratch, with shouted lyrics spilling out in breathless rushes approximating a cracked verse/chorus structure in the barest minimum of lines (and seconds). Totally fast and fucked-up enough to win points with the hardcore crowd allergic to all things “art,” but these are some legit freak sounds. Utterly unassailable OZ DIY brilliance!