Thin White Rope
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
While Thin White Ropes 1985 debut Exploring the Axis flirted with neo-psychedelia, the 1987 follow-up Moonhead upped the ante by allowing the desperation of Kysers lyrics to take full command of the music: unrelentingly grim and harrowingly provocative, the albums best songs -- like Crawl Piss Freeze and If Those Tears -- were postcards from the edge. Following the addition of new bassist John von Feldt, 1988s In the Spanish Cave continued along the same path, albeit with a renewed sense of humor (Mr. Limpet) and more oblique wordplay.
Though garnering little notice stateside, Thin White Rope earned a solid fanbase in Europe, and even became the first American independent-label act to tour the Soviet Union. 1990s Sack Full of Silver, a collection of songs written while on tour abroad, featured new drummer Matthew Abourezk as well as a newly-focused sonic attack; the album also featured a left-field rendition of Cans Yoo Doo Right, a hint of things to come on the 1991 all-covers EP Squatters Rights.
1991s full-length The Ruby Sea, a dense, atmospheric work highlighted by the riveting Clown Song, proved to be Thin White Ropes studio swan song: in 1992 the band split, and while most of the players continued performing in various musical projects, Kyser devoted himself to a career as a botanist. The posthumous The One That Got Away 6-28-92 Ghent, a two-disc live set recorded in Belgium peppered with odd covers of Lee and Nancys Some Velvet Morning, Bob Dylans Outlaw Blues and Hawkwinds Silver Machine, appeared in 1993; Spoor, a collection of demos, remixes and rare tracks, followed two years later.
