Ryan Rousseau is one of the greater Phoenix area's most prolific musicians, and despite sharing space with notable folks on plenty of occasions, his endeavors are still criminally under-rated.
Once a member of The Reatards and the live incarnation of Angry Angles, Ryan's had Jay Reatard and Alicja Trout both play on previous Destruction Unit records, and given the consistent ties with Memphis, I sometimes wonder why it is that more people aren't vocal about their appreciation for Ryan's long lasting Phoenix-based pool of creativity (with The Wongs, Tokyo Electron, Earthmen and Strangers), as I think it's fair to assume he would have jumped ship by now. But that's fine, people sleep on the finer things in life all of the time, why would this be any different?
In the past, Destruction Unit has been the vehicle for his synth-heavy garage punk onslaught, comparable to Jay's Terror Visions project, but less out of control, and crafting songs that were often much more memorable and dynamic, at least in how they were received by me.
When Ryan told me a few months ago that the new line-up was going to have a more "kraut rock" style of approach, I was unsure what to think about how it would actually end up sounding, though had no doubts that I'd love it.
After catching their first Phoenix show (following a San Diego trip, playing with Golden Triangle), it was obvious that this new version of Destruction Unit had quickly and naturally locked into the perfect repetition of the "kraut" sort, while maintaining the moody garage aspects that most specifically manifest in Ryan's vocals, which both live and on the LP, sound perfect.
And so the result is an incredible record, completely wrapped up and ready to purchase no more than three months later, and sitting in my room, organizing my recently listened to LPs, alphabetically, to facilitate their return to the wall, the eight minute opener could not possibly be a better soundtrack: repetition, when natural, feels perfect - and while someone might say this is just Blue Cheer worship, without seeing how this would have every bit as much to do with the Stooges, the diverse influences of Ryan's back ground and desire to take this project in a specific direction, are obvious and an incidental masterpiece.
What I am trying to say is this: listening to Ryan talk about how excited he was to get this reborn project going, I knew it would be good. Several of these songs had been droning in my short term memory for a solid month, after seeing them do it live, before hearing them again on this record, and after playing through this thing 8 or 9 times now: I am positive that this batch of pieces is perfect for me. I love it, and I hope that you will too.
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