Skull Practitioners at Berlin

After the Dream Syndicate split in 1989, Steve Wynn launched a solo career. Now a solo artist, Wynn moved to New York City in 1994 and became a customer at a record store where Jason Victor worked. Wynn first hired Victor as a roadie, but then moved him to lead guitarist in Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 in 2001. After several tours together, Wynn recruited Victor into a newly rebranded Dream Syndicate in 2012. By this time, Victor already had a local reputation from playing in several bands, including the Silos, DBCR, the Plastic Ones, the Puddles, Velvet Crush, and Matthew Sweet's band. Beginning in 2008, Victor also jammed  informally with bassist Kenneth Levine and drummer Alex Baker in Brooklyn, finally coming together as Skull Practitioners in 2013 and releasing a cassette in 2014. Skull Practitioners is now playing local venues, promoting a vinyl-only four-song EP, Death Buy, which was released on August 30, 2019.

At Berlin tonight, Skull Practitioners' set was an intense assault that was equal parts experimental noise-rock and futuristic post-rock. Heavy psych-twang met dark, reverb-soaked dissonance, mostly through Victor's inventive guitar leads, with Levine's thick, throbbing bass lines and Baker's driving percussive grooves providing propulsion. Several instrumentals showcased how far the power trio could sustain its saw-like gravitas. Victor and Levine sang on other songs, but while neither was a particularly memorable singer, these vocal parts created a skeleton of melodic conformity that regrouped the listeners. The contrast of fluid instrumentation and gritty, discordant arrangements was super impressive. Menacing, savage and ominous, Skull Practitioners' raw blasts shredded with cutting-edge innovation and explosive abandon. For fearless avant-garde music fans, this performance was next level.