AIDS Wolf/The Lovvers LP

Although it's utterly unfit for the ears of anybody but the damned, this debut album from Montreal's AIDS Wolf should provide the anarchic party circuit with some transgressive noise rock to cream over for the next week or so. And while it's tempting to dismiss The Lovvers LP as the work of over-indulged students bent on turning the screaming trauma of potty training into outrageous art, prudence demands we consider that two of the members of AIDS Wolf-Chloe Lum ("yelling") and Yannick Desranleau ("banging"), are the prime movers behind the wonderful and prolific Seripop design concern. That group's eye-raping artwork has established a house aesthetic for like-minded bands such as the Fugue, An Albatross, and the USAISAMONSTER, while also providing trigger images for violent schizophrenics. As for their sonic experiments: in at least one interview, Lum has spookily claimed that "We research tones that hypnotize," but it's unlikely that anyone with a sincere interest in experimental music will stake their reputation on the results. The Lovvers LP is simply too incoherent, its point, if there is one, having been lost in AIDS Wolf's ropey art-weirdo song and dance, not to mention its attention-seeking stunts (nude pictures of hirsute Frenchies, everyone!) Finally, useless exercises in crash, clatter, and howl make up tracks one through eight of this album. In short, any further "research" by the men and women of AIDS Wolf needs to be a lot more rigorous.

Georgia Straight, February 2006