Earth Mother Fucker – IVF CD (Antigen Records)

Here’s another neat release that recently arrived in our headquarters. Although I am not a big fan of live albums, I must admit that IVF by Earth Mother Fucker is an excellent one. Bands capable of capturing the energy of their studio recordings during the live performance are extremely rare, but this particular band nails it by every possible means. Earth Mother Fucker were never prolific as a band, and they had only three studio sessions in 15 years, but each of those three demos carries some excellent tracks. Therefore, IVF captures some highlights of their unstable music career but in a raw, abrasive, live form.

For those stumbling upon this band for the first time, Earth Mother Fucker blends everything you need to hear or know about noise rock and post-punk sound. Their compositions are raw, powerful, dark, and hypnotic by all means, and if you’re looking for live recordings in that vein, IVF will be a perfect choice for you. IVF comes as a colossal slab of heavy, relentless, well-articulated noise, skillfully performed to satisfy even the die-hard fans of mentioned music genres. Earth Mother Fucker maybe started their career in 1990, but their sound unquestionably leans much more towards the late seventies to mid-eighties music. Their compositions burst with ideas and musicianship that were popular among classic punk rock and post-punk bands of that era. Still, Earth Mother Fucker uplifted those sonic maneuvers on an entirely new level, so these tracks are much heavier, more aggressive, and more dynamic than those presented by the classic punk rock and post-punk bands.

Earth Mother Fucker picked some of their best tracks for this gig, so this live recording pretty much captures everything you need to know about the band. They sound top-notch from scratch to finish, and you’ll get the impression that you were a member of the audience while listening to this CD. As I said above, the bands capable of leaving that kind of an impression are rare, but Earth Mother Fucker sound like pros, and they obviously know how to do it right. There are some copies of the CD left at Antigen Records, so head to their web store and treat yourself if you’re into noise rock-infused post-punk music.