Exploring the Axis

Hailing from the northern California town of Davis, Thin White Rope was unfathomably pegged as a proponent of the paisley underground movement. The songs the group covered over the course of their ten-year career is far more revealing: SUICIDE, THE STOOGES, LEE HAZLEWOOD, MARTY ROBBINS, BOB DYLAN, CAN, and ROKY ERICKSON have all been rendered by the band in the studio and on-stage. That list goes a long way in explaining the mixture of raw, angular riffs, southern twang, and psychedelia that characterizes Exploring the Axis, the group's 1985 debut. Frontman Guy Kyser, guitarist Roger Kunkel, bassist Stephen Tesluk, and drummer Jozef Becker create a series of barren landscapes, instruments kicking up clouds of dust from the parched earth like a rollicking, rickety ghost-train with failed brakes. At times Jeff Eyrich's production approaches the wintry heir of Martin Hannett's work with Joy Division. This climate is ideal for Kyser, who delivers tales of isolation, allusion, and death; his voice a unsteady quake. Though subsequent releases would see a maturing of the band's sound, Exploring the Axis remains the blueprint.