Thin White Rope
Exploring The Axis

I must preface by saying that the undisputed masterpiece of the group is certainly CAPTAIN LONG BROWN FINGER IN THE SPANISH CAVE of 1988, but it is this album with which I approached the cult of the "subtle white rope," a Burroughsian metaphor indicating SPERM, hailing from California specifically from Davis, the origin area of groups like GREEN ON RED and TRUE WEST (with them they shared bassist and drummer), roles that were interchangeable around the figures of GUY KYSER on vocals and guitar and ROGER KUNKEL on solo guitar, the only stable members of THIN WHITE ROPE. Contemporaries of bands like DREAM SYNDICATE, MEAT PUPPETS, and GIANT SAND, they were thus classified in the so-called "desert rock" genre, authors of some of the best pages of '80s rock.

But the tracks of THIN WHITE ROPE were something different, in fact, they deviated from the poetics and mythology themes popular at the time, see DREAM SYNDICATE. The tracks of EXPLORING THE AXIS are part of the darker side of American rock. In these grooves, there is the desolation typical of the desert where time seems to stop and the sound tries to suppress the silence and emptiness of solitude that invades us like a sudden sandstorm, seeking a foothold in the void of the human unconscious. A sound between TELEVISION and GRATEFUL DEAD and certain SONIC YOUTH, a good dose of psychedelia but raw and rusty with a spine-chilling voice of KYSER (hear to believe) slithering like a snake among the feedback of the two guitars starting with the initial DOWN IN THE DESERT, their eternal sound manifesto, continuing with the country-boogie of THE REAL WEST and GRAMMAS ON A TRAIN. The fantastic title track, hearing the sonic mantra of the two guitars is simply overdose, but in my opinion, the masterpiece of the album is LITHIUM with a nightmare western rhythm.

After this album, they left us other masterpieces, above all, as I initially said, A SPANISH CAVE (the cover is fantastic), which I recommend along with this debut. A great band that certainly deserves to be rediscovered.