Torche/Part Chimp

Split EP

Torche covering three Guided By Voices songs: It’s only weird until you think about it for a second. As heavy as Torche get—which is comparable to a collapsed star—they’ve always had a ticklish spot where pop music is concerned. Granted, GBV’s vision of pop has always been equally trashed, which is why Torche’s bowel-ripping renditions of “Exit Flagger,” “Postal Blowfish” and “Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy” are the perfect choice to channel Robert Pollard’s avuncular songcraft while keeping things suitably guttural. For their half of this split with Torche, veteran British sludgesters Part Chimp contribute two long, syrup-thick originals. And while each is bulldozing enough to take the tops off mountains, they simply don’t measure up to the stellar (and likely once-in-a-lifetime) pairing of Torche and GBV—two surprisingly sympathetic pop titans separated only by volume and age.

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Torche’s “Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy”