Mouthus

by Greg HeaneyCombining the effects-heavy guitar excursions of Brian Sullivan with the free jazz stylings of drummer/percussionist Nate Nelson, the Brooklyn-based Mouthus utilize a combination of dense instrumentation and squelching, overloaded noise to create a sound that ranges from dark and ambient to piercing and tortured. Through a string of CD-R and vinyl releases, the duo has distinguished itself in what is arguably the hub of noise/experimental music on the East Coast, becoming a regular fixture at the No Fun festival, as well as being selected by Thurston Moore to perform at the 2006 All Tomorrow's Parties festival in England. Mouthus formed in 2002, and later that year Psych-O-Path issued their self-titled debut as a limited release. In 2004, the pair released the LP Loam on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! imprint. In 2005, a prolific year for Mouthus, they released the split LP 12-25-04 with San Francisco-based performer Axolotl on Olde English Spelling Bee; the limited CD-R/LP Bigger Throws on their label, Our Mouth Records; and the LP Slow Globes and a split tour LP with Double Leopards, both on Troubleman Unlimited. They kept up the pace in 2006, releasing the split double LP Crippled Rosebud Binding with Double Leopards and Sunroof! on Music Fellowship, the CD For the Great Slave Lakes on Three Lobed Recordings, a limited self-titled LP on Olde English Spelling Bee, the LP Sister Vibration on Our Mouth Records, and the CD The Long Salt on Important Records. In 2007, Mouthus self-released the CD-R Dual Drift and recorded their first official studio album, Saw a Halo, released on Load Records.