If anyone remembers Graham Massey, the chief brain behind 808 State, then Toolshed will come as a shock. The ensemble was formed in 1998 as a house band at the Manchester club of the same name, but this Toolshed is a “psych-jazz-techno orchestra” that had 28 members in its short life.
In the 1970s Massey formed a garage-prog band with the Toolshed collaborator Graham Clark, which makes perfect sense when the opening Pazuzu hits its stride and rocks out like Link Wray on some very strong cough medicine. With a full-tilt pulse that recalls the current partymeisters The Go! Team, this album cuts a series of rampant grooves; Nananananaanaa is loping, Egyptian hip-hop, while Black Bean might be a Krautrock act auditioning for Phoenix Nights. In other words, sublimely dippy and haphazardly brilliant.
Toolshed - Toolshed LP