Simply, Oxbow must be seen and heard to be believed. A staggeringly electric art rock band whose live shows are a mind-melting mix of brain and heart, of communal and collaborative release and artistic confrontation. One of the most physically, visually and sonically rewarding shows in Sled Island's history, guaranteed.

Thrones is the project of Joe Preston, a Seattle musician who played bass in Earth and Melvins. Conceived in 1994, Thrones emerged with a cassette (on Punk In My Vitamins) and with the single Reddleman/Algol (Punk In My Vitamins) . The album Alraune (Communion, 1996) presented an infinitely more mature musician, a full-fledged composer, and one who likes to take chances. The single Senex/Silvery Colorado (Soda Girl Records) was followed by the EP White Rabbit, White Rabbit (Kill Rock Stars, 1999). While these recordings overflow with ideas, and Preston's realization is always inventive, it is hard to define what Thrones is all about. Preston sounds more like someone who is looking for a style, rather than one who has a style. These are still formative works.

The EP Sperm Whale (Kill Rock Stars, 2000) refines Preston's approach in a more focused manner. While still spread 360 degrees all over the musical front, the tracks zoom on a tragic poet and his quest for a noir atmosphere. The whirlwind of distortions, android samplings and science-fiction sounds in the instrumental Oso Malo resembles the most nightmarish Six Finger Satellite, but the cavernous Melvins sludge is only a few minutes away. Preston's true soul is in these extreme sonic experiments, that balance grunge heaviness and an almost jazz aesthetics: the threnody for bass and electronics that opens Ephraim, the ominous bass theme that carries a loud distortion in Manmtn, the exoteric requiem from which Obolus takes off. Preston's tactic is to rip these morbid moods apart with torrid, infernal riffs and grooves. The effect is particularly gripping in Obolus, a veritable prayer from the underworld. In between the major experiments, Preston still enjoys surreal diversions. The best one here is Nuts And Berries, that comes through as a grindcore version of Syd Barrett.

After a five-year hiatus, Day Late Dollar Short (Southern Lord, 2005) collects singles an rarities.

Featuring ex-members of late NJ by way of Seattle heavy weights, Kiss It Goodbye, and Playing Enemy. Great Falls delivers a healthy, Am Rep style that is sorely missed. A good healthy dose of Today Is The Day's "Willpower" (aka good Today Is The Day!), and a highly influenced take on Unsane's "Scattered Smothered And Covered". Noisy, angular, abrasive, ugly.