Diminished Men

Distorted through a shattered lens, Diminished Men refocus hard-boiled cinema and classic instrumental music into something entirely unique.Vision in Crime, their third LP on Sun City Girls' Abduction label, unfolds like a paranormal detective story full of delinquent exotica, deranged noir, hyperventilating surf, and shortwave radio nightmares. Opening number "Chamber," an apparition of a forensics crime scene investigation, sets the tone but quickly spirals into the cobra-twilight guitar work of Steve Schmitt on the Aegean Sea-inspired espionage-surf track "Oistros Dolorous." From here the band's mutant lounge carnage weaves through sinister cityscapes and plazas, kudzu-infested forests on the avant-spy jazz of "Kudzu Mine," lost island noir, hallucinatory gamelan rock, and phantom radio dispatches.

By the time that mickey sets in, the title-track, a hauntingly gorgeous ballad, closes out the album. Diminished Men possess dangerous musical minds pulsing with nervous electricity, shattering Fender reverb, explodo-free jazz, and gorgeous, sometimes romantic melancholy. Featuring Steve Schmitt on guitars, drummer Dave Abramson (Master Musicians of Bukkake), and Simon Henneman on Bass VI. Vision in Crime includes special guest recording appearances by saxophonists Skerik (Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois, Wayne Horvitz) and Neil Welch (Bad Luck, King Tears Bat Trip). Limited edition of 500.