Razorhouse

Like a zealous tent revival rolling back into town, Mark Panick’s post-Bonemen of Barumba project, Razorhouse, returns with Codex Tres Lingua to be released on Tuesday, February 6, 2018, on Underwear Factory Toy Records. The songs on Codex Tres Lingua are sewn through with literary dark thread while brimming with cinematic art-punk. The record is filled with love-torn riches mired in muck and is a grand statement from a compassionate punk. Razorhouse is the brainchild of Mark Panick (Bonemen of Barumba, Chac Mool, Black Friars Social Club) and his cohorts, longtime percussionist David Suycott (Robert Pollard, Machines of Loving Grace), guitarist Tommi Zender, bassist Jim DeMonte (Insiders, Marquis) and mixing engineer Howie Beno (Ministry, Depeche Mode, Blondie). Panick is known for his inroads in art-punk and weird-core, Razorhouse is a new angle on the same throbbing dark underbelly of the human condition. Only this time it is conjured into a stew that comes out sounding like some twisted American songbook. For those who want their pop music to come from the red light district, and those who want their nightmares to have a lush and memorable soundtrack, there is Razorhouse. On Codex Tres Lingua, Razorhouse simultaneously looks back wistfully, covering the 1981 Bonemen of Barumba song “Walking With The Deadmen” (a Joy Division-meets-Cramps track and Jon Peel favorite) and aggressively traverses alien territory with the soulful, Americana-tinged “Cut Me Low.” In “Across the Wire,” the EP’s 5th track, Panick and Nora O’Connor (The Flat Five, Mavis Staples, Andrew Bird, Neko Case) weave together verses thick with imagery. Throughout the EP’s five tracks, there’s a stylistic breath and diversity that the band embraces while keeping a foothold in their dark-hued world. That is the magic of Razorhouse: they draw us into to their strange territory and show us what it is like to go walking with the deadmen.

• http://www.intherazorhouse.com/