2020. Rock. John Dwyers 23rd album as Osees (variously spelled) is a monster, the best in ages, raising the wild animal spirits of garage rock abandon and locking them down in precisely drawn, tightly played arrangements. The heat of the moment meets the chill of open-ended hypnogogic drone here as short blasts of unhinged guitar play are fitted into rhythmic boxes (see the squeals of wah wah bursting out of "Toadstool"s rigorous groove) and presented for your approval. There are two excellent drummers pummeling simultaneous kits, the yelp of tortured guitars, the squiggly wonder of space-age keyboards. Cuts range from out-and-out surf pop ("If I Had My Way") to cartoon-violent riff fests ("Terminal Jape," "Scramble Suit II") to dub-echod, jazz-slouching, Can-evoking introspections ("Said the Shovel" "Gong of Catastrophe"). The Osees have evolved over time, with various players coming and going as regularly as the band name is altered, but this is a particularly skilled and cohesive iteration. Dwyer is, as a