The world’s getting smaller. Either that or we’re getting bigger, which statistically may be true, but to such proportions? Bite size is where it’s at. TV news runs clips rather than interviews, we watch more adverts than full length programmes, broadsheets don’t obscure your views on trains or leave the person opposite with an inky nose anymore, the physical music press has all but disappeared and the remainder rarely dare their dear reader(s) to work through much over 500 words in one go, Mars Bars are lighter and stumpier, McDonalds is serving salads and even Diet Coke is available in smaller ‘snack size’ cans – what’s all that about?! But one constant through all these allergies to largeness and generosity is the humble song, still clocking in at a universal average of 3 and a half minutes (note: this is not a scientific fact, you think we have the ability to spend that much time doing anything!?). Whirlwind Heat, as those who heard their feisty debut would no doubt attest, aren’t exactly sticklers for convention. So how does 10 songs in 10 minutes strike you? Making this probably the most 2004 album released all year.
It’s a case of blink and you’ll miss it. Seriously. On occasions when our attention has drifted we’ve returned to silence pondering where tracks 3-10 could have gone. You could call it a single, or an EP, but whichever way you look at it these ten songs are half the length of your typical single Godspeed! tune. And it’s good to have antitheses, they help throw everything in between into perspective. Essentially this is Whirlwind Heat as a tapas meal. So, you could manage a handful of Melvins in a light Pavement sauce (‘A Worm’s Coat’), a modest scoop of Primus-esque fuzz-pedal bass eccentricity (‘Meat Packer’), QOTSA skin ‘n’ bones with a Kraftwerk remix dip (‘H Is O’) and a pure Mudhoney muffin (‘Ice-Nine’)? Of course you could, and there’d be room for more. But you know that’s against the rules so don’t even think about it. Dr Atkins would turn in his grave.