Torture Garden cover

Torture Garden

Released

Naked City’s self-titled debut included 11 “hardcore miniatures,” mind-blastingly fast pieces that combined snippets of conventional music styles (reggae, country, lounge jazz) with ultra-intense thrash for anywhere between eight and 40 seconds. Torture Garden, released on the Shimmy-Disc label when Elektra Nonesuch balked, included all of those, and added 31 more; the longest, “Osaka Bondage,” runs 1:14, while “Hammerhead” is a mere eight seconds. This may be the most exciting, nerve-jangling 25:46 of music ever recorded.

Phil Freeman

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