*At least according to me.

Toronto-based musician/actor Slim Twig (real name Max Turnbull) has been compared by critics to Nick Cave, Lou Reed, Suicide and David Bowie. The Quietus compared him to Scott Walker and I personally added Iggy Pop, John Lennon and Harry Nilsson to the list. His 2012 album A Hound At The Hem, which only got wilder release last year on DFA records, was one of 2014’s toppermost of the poppermost musical highlights for me. I played the fucking shit out of the insanely catchy single “All This Wanting” and still do.

Last year, writing about the album, I noted the press release described A Hound At The Hem as a concept album loosely inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and as “an echo-like response to Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier’s Histoire de Melody Nelson.”

As I then opined “It takes balls to claim—or even imply—something like that!” Which is true, it absolutely does. Delightfully so.

And now Twig—a ringer for a young David Lochary—is back with a new album that sounds absolutely nothing like his previous album. This one, titled Thank You For Stickin’ With Twig is a sonic melange of T.Rex, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World album, Bongwater, maybe The Residents and that very specific sound that Jimmy Page was into around the time of Presence. There’s also a playful Zappa-esque element to the proceedings. Not one song sounds anything like another.

To my jaded ears, this guy is the real fucking deal. Again, I have just played this new album non-fuckin-stop since I got it. And now you can hear it , too, here’s Thank You For Stickin’ With Twig in its entirety, introduced by the artist:
 

 
(I wasn’t trying to be obnoxious about the title here, btw. Thank You For Stickin’ With Twig IS actually my second favorite album of the year, this is true, there’s but nary a hair’s width of difference between where I rank Thank You For Stickin’ With Twig versus my #1 top album of the year, which is the forthcoming Dungen album, Allas Sak).

No really, I am all about spreading the gospel of Slim Twig. In the past two years, he’s put out two of my favorite albums.

Hey wait a minute… If you’re still reading, but have not hit play already, lemme ask you: WHY?

Scroll up and hit play. Just do it.

Okay, fine, here’s a Soundcloud embed:
 

 
Here’s the video for “Slippin’ Slidin’”—it reminds me of the “Venus in Furs” sequence of Charles Atlas’ Because We Must.
 

 
And if you are already hip to Slim Twig, he’ll be playing some US dates this month and next, including some California shows with Jack Name, which frankly,  is about as strong of a double bill as I can think of, consisting of up and coming artists.

Sept 18 Chicago, IL at Empty Bottle
Sept 19 St Paul, MN at Amsterdam Bar and Hall
Sept 20 Winnipeg, MB at Good Will Social Club
Sept 21 Saskatoon, SK at Vangelis
Sept 23 Calgary, AB at Broken City
Sept 24 Vancouver, BC at Media Club
Sept 25 Seattle, WA at Cafe Racer
Sept 26 Portland, OR at Bunk Bar
Sept 27 San Francisco, CA at Hemlock Tavern
Sept 28 Los Angeles, CA at House of Gods
Sept 29 San Diego, CA at Soda Bar
Sept 30 Phoenix, AZ at Valley Bar
Oct 2 Austin, TX at Sidewinder
Oct 3 Kansas City, MO at Record Bar
Oct 14 New York City, NY at CMJ/Knitting Factory
Oct 21 Toronto, ON at Horseshoe Tavern
Oct 23-24 Halifax, NS at Halifax Pop Explosion