Human Eye: Fragments Of The Universe Nurse

It’s gotta be tough coming from a place with such a deep musical history – and a culturally important one as well. But Detroit, of late, hasn’t been doing to well in the eye of the general public.

J-Dilla died, the White Stripes haven’t been an engaging group for at least half a decade and the entire car bailout mania has pretty much rendered the city some cut rate Cleveland. Seriously, are there two cities that are more generally maligned? I think not. And while Clevo had it’s moment to influence music back there in the ‘70s, it’s largely played host to hardcore groups that have to goto Japan for anyone to really care about them.

Detroit by contrast has begun to wrangle a new queasy punk soldering together  that dirty genre with artful performance concepts – which brings us to Human Eye, the direct decedent of the Clone Defects, and its front man Timmy Vulgar.

Boasting some art degree generally makes rock groups and its members come off like over blown harrumphs that have as much potent ability to entertain a crowd as a wet dish rag. Vulgar and Human Eye, though, come off as a mechanical diorama, ready made to engage audiences with its swath of keyboard tomfoolery and quick step drumming that at times seems to be tied to the jazz age. Either way, the group makes records. And considering that the Clone Defects left ear holes longing, 2008’s Hook or Crook released Fragments of the Universe Nurse should be welcomed onto turntables the world over.

Issued through a small Oakland imprint probably hasn’t done too much to spread the twisted, eel loving gospel of Human Eye. But the move to embrace a low profile that enables the group to continue doing as it pleases is one that shouldn’t go unnoticed even as the ensemble’s also worked with In the Red.

Comprised of ten tracks, none of which arrive as evenly paced or sequenced with too much forethought, Fragments of the Universe Nurse isn’t as startling as it is erratic. And while the majority of the album is given over to distortion and churning rhythms, Vulgar and company have still crafted a disc that encompasses a huge portion of punk history.

Occasionally referred to as avant garde – for whatever reason – the band goes in on the six minute “Lightning in Her Eyes” drawing from an almost gothic Los Angeles scene back from early ‘80s. It’s not quite the Screamers come Gun Club, but with the consistent plunking of bassy keys, the song is one of the darker love ballads (?) to have been pressed in recent memory.

There are hints of straight punk here and there, though, as exemplified by the following track, “Dinosaur Bones.” And a bit later, on the concluding title track, Human Eye approaches some semblance of traditional song structure – even as that only here means the verse is recognizable as the verse.

Regardless of the group’s compositional proclivities, Fragments of the Universe Nurse is a welcomed addition to the Detroit’s new millennium retardo-punk stuffs. I mean, how many times can that Piranhas’ album get spun?