Cave: Hunt Like Devil/JAMZ EP
By
Evan Sawdey 19 March 2008
PopMatters Interviews Editor
Cave = In
Let’s face it… it’s hard to do repetition well. This is why so many techno acts fail to make a big impression: they simply rehash the same idea over and over again. If you’re a band, you can sometimes use this to your advantage (the way songs by the Fall frequently appear to built out of one simple riff). Then there’s Cave. Formed by some of the guys from Warhammer 48K, Cave is focused more on the repetitious nature of hard psych-rock (think Iron Butterfly after a ‘90s alt-rock bender). This glorious double-EP features both the best and worst that we can expect from the band, as the four-part “Hunt Like Devil” suite can differ between grating noise suites (filled with pointless sci-fi riff noodling) and totally engaging, surprising moments (glockenspiel breakdown?! Awesome!). Tracks like “Annihilated Sludge Flow” only need to be heard once in your lifetime, but other songs like the nostalgia-aping “Hunt Like Devil #4” and the surprisingly groovy “Drum Live Devil” are welcome additions to any hard-rock playlist. But like any good kind of repetition, it’s not too hard to see yourself seeing this band live again and again and again…
Evan Sawdey began contributing to PopMatters in late 2005 after contributing for years to his college newspaper
The Knox Student. Evan became the Associate Interviews Editor for PopMatters in the summer of 2008, and then the full Interviews Editor a year after that. Since joining, Evan's work has been written for and been quoted/featured in a wide array of publications including SLUG Magazine, The Metro (U.K.), Soundvenue Magazine (Denmark), the Daily Dot, and multiple national newspapers. Evan has been a guest on WNYC's Soundcheck (an NPR affiliate), was the Executive Producer for the
Good With Words: A Tribute to Benjamin Durdle album (available for free at
GoodWithWordsAlbum.com), and wrote the liner notes for the 2011 re-release of
Andre Cymone's hit 1985 album A.C. (Big Break Records) and the 2012 re-releases of
Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder's standalone 1985 pop effort (Virgin/Gold Legion),
the JoBoxers' 1983 debut album Like Gangbusters,
'Til Tuesday's 1985 debut Voices Carry, and
Plastic Bertrand's 1978 album AN 1 (all Hot Shot Records). He is a current member of The Recording Academy and resides in Chicago, Illinois. You can follow him
@SawdEye should you be so inclined.