Thee Oh Sees

Floating Coffin (Castle Face)

After years of plying a twisted but uneven dalliance between psychedelia, garage punk, and noise, San Francisco’s Thee Oh Sees distilled their focus to fine effect on 2011’s Carrion Crawler/The Dream. That sweet streak continues on Floating Coffin, whose darker, more foreboding tone covers a lot of stylistic ground in its 10 tracks. Opener “I Come From the Mountain” echoes the epic intensity of The Dream with a frantic, driving buzz punctuated by echo-sodden whoops and hollers. “Toe Cutter-Thumb Buster” pits earth-blasting guitar against a slinky, black-eyed groove, then the title track hurls you into a spiraling sonic void. “No Spell” begins life in a mellow, prog-rock glow that unfolds into frizzed-up, psych-punk bliss, while “Strawberries 1 + 2” morphs a Memphian trash-rock showdown into a gloriously listing dirge. The viola-driven, droll pop facade of “Minotaur” strikes the perfect closing sentiment. (Friday, 6:25pm, Black stage)

***.5

This article appears in November 8 • 2013.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.