Naked on the Vague- Poltergeist Palm 7"
SKT-007
from Siltblog
Naked On The Vague is also battin 1000% & on this 7" for Skulltones, their patented brand of Apocalyptic melancholia is runnin at a fever pitch. The A side cracks & peels behind a 'Discipline' styled drum beat while Matthew & Lucy's vocal trade off's resemble the malaise akin to once upon a time Lee & Nancy ( aka, the original Chris & Cosey) recounting a night at Spahn Ranch, where they was sick from the tofu roasted over a kerosene bonfire & exasperated by the results of a Family hootenanny. The flip finds our hero's not a little wrecked from the copious amounts of Fromme procured dirt-cheeb they'd inhaled & who knows, maybe it'd even been 'dusted' w/LOVE by Charlie himself. It's a wild world babe, that's alls I can say.
from Agit Reader
It is always exciting to check and see whom Skulltones pick for their next release, as they always come up with winners, and Naked on the Vague are no exception. NOTV borrow from any number of great first-wave British post-punk moments, but not always the most obvious ones. "Poltergeist Palm" digs a grave directly next to Flowers of Romance-era PiL, while "Empty Tongues" mellows Throbbing Gristle's noise into a palpable lullaby. An odd single, but an excellent one, and another example of how great the Australian underground is today. —Doug Elliot
from Dusted Magazine
Some of you have already burned through all the NOTV material out there, so in that case, hurry up and jump on this grenade. Two long ones in both of the duo’s requisite styles; “Poltergeist Palm” in the gothling song-as-death chant mode, and “Empty Tongues” traversing the mists of their looser, more ambient material. A cold, damp industrial mire coats both offerings in despair and the band sounds as if they saw a ghost, and were on the verge of becoming ghosts themselves. They remind me of that old 4AD band Mass (the group in between Rema Rema and Renegade Soundwave); a pretty specific sound to conjure, and they just land right on it. Not the experience that their LP was, but that’s fine – it’s even more lost and hopeless sounding than before. 300 numbered copies; might not be enough to go around, so don’t embarrass yourselves the way you did over the Eat Skull single. —Doug Mosurock