The Bass Players' Union (if such a thing exists) needs to get lobbying, and quickly. Not only have Jack and Meg White made it acceptable to go without a blank-of-expression, four-string musician, but now we have Oxfordshire duo, Winnebago Deal, who seem intent on doing for bass-men what mobile phones did for pagers.
Winnebago Deal are the "elusive" musical gene that is the missing link between punk, stoner rock and thrash metal and the George Dickel EP is simply breathtaking. The title track is the sound of Kurt Cobain plugging his guitar through Fu Manchu's amps, such are its heavy, grungey riffs and stoner groove. What's shocking is that the next four tracks get heavier and heavier, with Hondo's mega-fast hardcore drumming; Snakerama's even more manic mosh-fest; Missing In Action's 50-second Napalm Death-style thrash-out; and Redneck's gloriously huge staccato metal groove.
The EP ends with squalling, squealing feedback before a reprise of slow, sludgey, booming riffs for the last two minutes. By this point, provided your ears haven't bled and you're not rushing to the hospital, you'll be left wondering how a two-piece can make so much damn noise and make it sound so good at the same time. What was that about three being a crowd?
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