A Weird Exits is the seventeenth studio album by American garage rock band Thee Oh Sees, released on August 12, 2016, on Castle Face Records.[1][2] It is the first studio album to feature drummers Ryan Moutinho and Dan Rincon, who joined the band in 2015 to tour in support of the band's previous album, Mutilator Defeated at Last.
| A Weird Exits | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 12, 2016 | |||
| Genre | Garage rock, psychedelic rock | |||
| Length | 39:30 | |||
| Label | Castle Face Records | |||
| Thee Oh Sees chronology | ||||
| ||||
A Weird Exits was the first of two studio albums released by Thee Oh Sees in 2016, with a companion album, entitled An Odd Entrances, released on November 18, 2016.
Background and recording
editDuring breaks from the band's extensive tour in support of Mutilator Defeated at Last, the band would jam new song ideas at rehearsals, with vocalist and guitarist John Dwyer recording the ideas onto a cassette to listen to and choose his favourite ideas.[3]
The album and its companion, An Odd Entrances, was mostly recorded as a live band with the band's regular engineer and collaborator Chris Woodhouse. Regarding the recording process drummer Ryan Moutinho noted, "We recorded all of that in three days. Actually... I'm going to say four, but I really think it was three. I was really sick. I had a one-hundred-and-twenty degree fever and was vomiting. I recorded the whole record in a hoody, with the hood up. We went in there, did that, and then me, Tim [Hellman] and Dan [Rincon] all went home, and John stayed and finished it."[3]
Release
editThe album had two special vinyl editions made: the "Murky Web" edition, limited to 1700 copies, and the "Bloodshot Eyeball" edition, limited to 300 copies.[2] A third was released in the UK, simply titled "Green".
Critical reception
edit| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 82/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Pitchfork | 7.5/10[6] |
A Weird Exits received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82 based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[4]
Writing for AllMusic, Tim Sendra praised the album's variety, John Dwyer's guitar playing and the band's consistent output: "With Mutilator, and now this album, the band is firing on all cylinders and then some, making psych-prog-metal-punk jams for the ages."[5]
Accolades
edit| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mojo | The 50 Best Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 29
|
|
| Rough Trade | Albums of the Year | 2016 | 7
|
|
| Uncut | Top 75 Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 11
|
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dead Man's Gun" | 3:28 |
| 2. | "Ticklish Warrior" | 3:06 |
| 3. | "Jammed Entrance" | 5:21 |
| 4. | "Plastic Plant" | 5:40 |
| 5. | "Gelatinous Cube" | 3:27 |
| 6. | "Unwrap the Fiend Pt. 2" | 4:27 |
| 7. | "Crawl Out Into the Fall Out" | 7:50 |
| 8. | "The Axis" | 6:11 |
Personnel
editThee Oh Sees
- John Dwyer – guitar, vocals, Mellotron, synths, moisturizer, flute, percussion
- Tim Hellman – bass
- Dan Rincon – drums
- Ryan Moutinho – drums
Additional personnel
- Brigid Dawson – vocals on "The Axis"
- Chris Woodhouse – drums, organ, guitar, percussion
- Greer McGitrick – cello on "Crawl Out from the Fall Out"
Charts
edit| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10] | 146 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[11] | 105 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12] | 188 |
References
edit- ^ "Thee Oh Sees - A Weird Exits". Discogs. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
- ^ a b "Thee Oh Sees — A Weird Exits | Castle Face Records". Castle Face Records. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
- ^ a b Lindsay, Andrew (22 February 2017). "Odd Entrances and Weird Exits: In Conversation with Thee Oh Sees' Ryan Moutinho". The Reprise. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Critic Reviews for A Weird Exits - Metacritic". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
- ^ a b Sendra, Tim. "A Weird Exits - Thee Oh Sees". Allmusic. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
- ^ Berman, Stuard. "A Weird Exits - Thee Oh Sees". Pitchfork. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2016". November 22, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
- ^ "Albums of the Year". Rough Trade. November 14, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-11-16. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ^ "Top 75 Albums of 2016". November 22, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Thee Oh Sees – A Weird Exits" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Thee Oh Sees – A Weird Exits" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Thee Oh Sees – A Weird Exits" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 4, 2021.