Supreme Dicks

June 13 - June 20, 1 9 9 6

**1/2 Supreme Dicks

THE EMOTIONAL PLAGUE

(Homestead)

Herein there is not one moment of actual songcraft to distract from the convolutions of the Dicks' multi-guitar presentation. The soft-textured sound clouds meander, often past the 10-minute mark, striking vague poses in the direction of psychedelia-lite, British pop, and lo-fi improv. Because they sidestep structure as if it were a deep pothole, the album takes on an ambient quality -- moody, broken, dark -- hinging on the terse interplay of the guitars. And it rides on the lackadaisical drift of the music, floating from mood to mood: too enervated to be tagged "hot" or "spontaneous," but with enough thrust to hold your attention. Precedents for sheer aimlessness that sounds this good are few.

-- Jonathan Dixon