TRUMANS WATER
The Singles 1992-1997
The title of Trumans Water's 1993 album Spasm Smash succinctly summarizes the San Diego group's sound. TW's trebly, spazzy attack triggered plenty of comparisons to Pavement, Polvo, and Captain Beefheart in the unhalcyonic early '90s. As far as rambunctiously angular noise rock with funny song titles went, Trumans delivered primo goods. Today's incarnation of the band seems trapped in a time warp, but instead of sounding exhausted, they still radiate a vein-bulging vitality on their 12th and most recent album, You Are in the Line of Fire and They Are Shooting at You (Homesleep). Which means diehard fans will wanna catch this rare Seattle appearance. Former Beefheart guitarist Tepper has played with P.J. Harvey and Frank Black; he will surely complement TW's tightly sprawling aggro rock.

Dave Segal - The Stranger, 11/11/2004