Nest Egg were formed in 2011 and hail from Asheville, North Carolina. The band have honed their sound on the live circuit and new LP Dislocation to be released on The Acid Test Recordings and Little Cloud Records is the follow-up to 2018’s Nothingness Is Not A Curse, released on Fuzz Club. They specialise in krautrock wizardry and their songs are built upon repetition and drone, all sheltered within a hive of buzzsaw guitars and analogue synths. No sound is wasted, space is the place, songs will evolve and grow for as long as they need to. There is organisation in chaos; they describe their sound as “mood music for nihilists”, a fitting epithet.
Opening with ‘Eraser’, a throbbing, rolling beat starts the track and maintains momentum whilst distant vocals echo over equally frantic, fuzzy guitars. The track builds in intensity as it progresses, and the fluctuating elements create a form of euphoria. A seamless blend into ‘Dislocation’ and we are back to the classic krautrock genius that we have come to know and love them for. The pace of the track leaves you breathless whilst trying to work out how they can make so much sound, so quickly and so effortlessly. The track only intensifies and gets to the point where there aren’t words to describe it, it can only be absorbed and appreciated. ‘D.B. Cooper’, the pseudonym of the 1971 Boeing 727 hijacker, takes a slightly different approach to its predecessors, with a slower tempo and more emphasis placed on the guitar interventions than previously; much more in-keeping with their last LP.
‘What! I’m A Bastard!!??’ is a very noisy blast of an intermission between tracks that serves to shake you up a bit and make sure you are paying attention before ‘Helix’ opens out with a lengthy, weighted opening that builds in layers and becomes infinitely more complex. This is one of those tracks that you can lose yourself in, so much so you barely notice the subtle volume changes that lead to a complete fade out and the introduction of what can only be described as electronic space sounds (have a listen, you’ll get it). Concluding ‘Gore’ juxtaposes competing sounds to create a type of conflict that resolves itself constantly. This works in all ways, creating a track that you can’t stop listening to and are drawn deeper into, if for no other reason than you want to know what happens next. It’s the perfect way to end and brings the albums journey neatly to a halt.
There aren’t many bands who make krautrock anymore, there certainly aren’t any who do it as good as these guys. If you like your Can, or your Neu!, you will most definitely like Nest Egg.
