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As the typically buoyant Devo on this issue's covermount will make clear, San Francisco's Warm Wires would probably occupy a padded cell in an indie-rock microcosm. Their second album, 'Kindness' showcases fifteen similarly skewed selections, B Mossman's deranged, apparently sex and bodily-function obsessed worldview epitomised in songs such as the self-explanatory Anything With An Ass or Funhappy ("When we mix our urine the toilet bowl turns blue / Guess that means that I should stay with you") or perhaps most of all the questionable/objectionable Lick The Queen ("Sleep and Fuck / Fuck and Sleep / Sometimes Shit / And Sometimes Eat / Kiss a Little Kiss / Squeeze a Little Tush / Pinch a Little Titty / And Burn a Little Bush"). What keeps us listening instead of writing hate mail is the infectious, upbeat nature of Warm Wires musical vocabulary, an erratic mix of jangly guitar figures, spastic riffing and occasional dips into subdued, affecting pop. Admittedly the latter moments occur when Mossman steps back from the mic to allow Bernie Jungle a turn or two. His Falling is a highlight and we could use more of its kind, if only to break up the incessant jokiness of much of the album's duration. Quirky and perky, Warm Wires' brand of kindness comes with a wicked grin.

Matt Dornan
CWAS #11 - Autumn 2002

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