*We all know the type: prolific bands that commit every loose thought, stray idea and 90-second song fragment to tape. Bands that pay no attention to little inconveniences like ""release cycles"" or ""self-editing,"" and instead decide that quantity equals quality, creating a discography more labyrinthine, imposing and-ultimately-exhausting than the cast of creatures in a sci-fi novel. Here is why none of that applies to THEE OH SEES. Because each of the dozen-plus albums they've released since 2004 possesses a distinct personality and represents a different point along the path of JOHN DWYER's slow transformation from auteur of woozy, bare-bones four-track psychedelia to goggle-eyed garage rock marauder backed at long last by a band that both shares and stokes his singular vision. Because drop a needle on any record and-to their great credit-it takes several songs before you're convinced it's Thee Oh Sees. The seasick hundred-bottles-of-rum shanty ""What the Driven Drink,"" from 2007's delirious Sucks Blood exists in a different galaxy than the rollercoastering ""Chem-Farmer"" from last year's Carrion Crawler / The Dream; the doomy doo-wop of ""Blood on the Deck"" hardly seems like the product of the same band that delivered the yelping ""Ruby Go Home"" in 2009.
