Lambsbread: It's What's for Dinner

Lambsbread
"King of the Crop" 7"
Skulltones (SKT-002), 2006

I know, I know, yet another release from Delaware, Ohio's Lambsbread, winners of the Robert Pollard Award for Midwest Prolificity in 2006 (actually, in the noise world, John Olson and C. Spencer Yeh collectively hand the statue out). I'm estimating they put out around 10-15 cdr's (edit: the band notified me it was 35 in total!!!...plus 10 on other labels...collect them all!) of their own stuff, not to mention a slew of collabs and stuff from other bands, on their limited-run imprint Maim & Disfigure. But this one here is the trio's debut vinyl release, an unlabeled 7" from the brand new Skulltones label, and damn if the format doesn't suit the 'Bread perfectly.
Now each Lambsbread jam requires a different set of listening rituals depending on where the noise situates in your brain. This one's shorter than usual, so what I've been doing with it is cutting out some cayenne pepper (chili powder works too), snorting a few lines, cranking up the volume and falling to the floor in convulsions. My cat hates the stuff, but it's an excellent soundtrack to a runny nose.
What you actually get here are three bite-sized mini-jams - two on Side A and one filling up Side B - that all seem to serve the same purpose yet build atop each other. The tracks are cleverly edited from what seems to be one longer piece, and the space between the songs are places where the band settles into feedback between more intense passages of strangled/gutted/moaning guitars and a wall of cymbals and snares. By the second side a rhythm forms between the two guitars and the crashing drums until a guitar veers away into near-solo territory, finally converging into a droned 80's sludge-rock beat kicked to death. It's been called a lot of things but in essence, Lambsbread are "free" anything. They can do free jazz or metal or stoned psych or hardcore but it's always left open, always loud as hell and, so far, always done themselves, for themselves, which never gets old to me.
If you are one of the many locals who've been throwing their baguettes up in disgust over these three farmhands, well, you're in luck! Expect a ton of hand-made releases to command frustration and confusion, as well as full-lengths on Parts Unknown and Ecstatic Peace. Also, if you'd like to meet Zac, Kathy and Shane on a more "personal" level, there's a nice feature on the band, including a video interview, on Columbus music site Donewaiting today. They've been picked as one of Columbus' bands to watch in '07.