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Released a decade after the recently posted Seizure, Beat doesn't skip a beat in terms of delivering catchy, up-beat pop songs. The Tall Dwarfesque tape loops have been stripped down somewhat since, and replaced with rather minimal drum machine beats. You won't find too many weird sound fx, but a lot of empathic singing. At times, Chris is getting a bit too ambitious with his vocals - he can't really deliver the tonal range he's aiming for - and one is left to wonder if it wouldn't have been better had he resorted to the old Tall Dwarfs recipe of using sound fx to distort the vocals. Don't get me wrong, this is a good album, but ... Read more »
Views: 1106 | Added by: illuminaut | Date: 20 Aug 2008 | Rating: 5.0/2 | Comments (1) |



Deuce Avenue is Alan Vega's most under-appreciated album, and has been universally shunned by critics. AMG gives it 1.5 stars and calls it "one of Alan Vega's rare misfires", all the while pointing out that it's the album most similar to the earlier Suicide albums. Which is the key here. No, Martin Rev wasn't part of this, and yes, Alan Vega produced this on his own, but what is truly remarkable about this album is that it just flows. Back are the aggressive synth sounds, gone the rockabilly influences of Alan Vega's solo debut. I've learned to love this album while driving at night - it's futuristic and retro at the same time. Body Bop Jive and Sneaker Gun Fire are fine examples where the ... Read more »
Views: 1302 | Added by: illuminaut | Date: 19 Aug 2008 | Rating: 5.0/3 | Comments (2) |

It would be easy to say that Josef K had better days ahead of them when leader Paul Haig decided to close that chapter in his life because there's simply no telling. Despite that train of thought and despite the reservations of band members and critics over the way the Scottish quartet's limited studio output was recorded, and despite the fact that the band thought they did their best work on stage, there is still no denying that there is some brilliance apparent in their lone studio album and this compilation, Young and Stupid. Three versions of it are floating around, with each successive edition improving on the one that preceded it. It was originally released on vinyl by Supreme in 1987 with twelve songs that mined their singles; though the tracks were selected by the band and the LP was released by their former manager, it didn't exactly fulfill its ... Read more »

Views: 1592 | Added by: wre | Date: 19 Aug 2008 | Rating: 4.5/2 | Comments (1) |

The band didn't hold back at all when it came to the follow-up for Fresh Fruit -- if anything, they exploded to a degree never matched by them in later years. Arguably the sheer speed and lack of any subtlety throughout most of this eight-song EP means there's less to talk about in terms of deathless songs and more in the way of sheer breathless anger and rage. The titles say it all: "Nazi Punks Fuck Off," "Religious Vomit," "Hyperactive Child." The sheer hilarity of the band isn't lost, thankfully; "Moral Majority" may rip along as per always, but Biafra's parody of a typical TV preacher at the start is a scream. The real winners come at the end, starting with "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now." A reworking of "California Über Alles," specifically targeted at California governor turned president Ronald Reagan, benefits from an amusing jazz/lounge start and ... Read more »

Views: 690 | Added by: wre | Date: 19 Aug 2008 | Rating: 4.0/1 | Comments (1) |

With a mixture of jazz-influenced fluidity and nearby noodling, Karate's fourth album delivers dramatic stop/start rock that ebbs and flows and is sparked, at its' best moments, by lost narratives and cutting guitar work. Occasionally it is only the crisp, billowy, unsteady patterns of drummer Gavin McCarthy that remind you that this is not a pop-fusion effort from the late '70s. The unsettling moments and the ever-present tension that make a band like June Of '44 take on the same territory more successfully are replaced by an over-reliance on technical proficiency and shifting time signatures.

Certainly there is some great interplay between the bassist and drummer, resulting in some truly solid rhythms and a pervading sense of anger pops up on "Sever" that attempts to pull the listener in. Throughout the record, Geoff Farina's lyrical asides manage t ... Read more »

Views: 1532 | Added by: wre | Date: 18 Aug 2008 | Rating: 4.8/5 | Comments (1) |

Rocket From the Tombs, the Cleveland band that featured a pre-Pere Ubu David Thomas and future members of the Dead Boys, has been hailed by numerous serious rock critics as overlooked punk and new wave forefathers. They never entered a recording studio, however, and for the most part their scant body of demos and live tapes have been heard only by serious collectors, though some were available on the 1990 album Life Stinks (itself hard to find now). The Day the Earth Met the Rocket From the Tombs does not issue every tape known to exist by the group, and is not perfect from the standpoints of fidelity and performance. The 74-minute disc does, however, finally make a reasonably comprehensive document of their work widely available for the first time. The first half is devoted to a February 1975 loft rehearsal, and though the sound is on the muddy side, the ... Read more »

Views: 807 | Added by: wre | Date: 18 Aug 2008 | Rating: 5.0/1 | Comments (1) |

Simultaneously hailed as an underground classic and cast aside as poorly produced backpack rap, Operation: Doomsday inaugurated the reign of MF Doom in underground rap from the early to mid-2000s. The pretext for the album is very similar to that of Marvel Comics supervillain Dr. Doom; after MF Doom, then known as Zevlove X, had been devastated by the death of his brother and K.M.D. accomplice, DJ Sub-Roc, in the early '90s, Elektra dropped his group and stopped the release of its second album, Black Bastards, due to its political message and, more specifically, its cover art. Doom was left scarred with a lingering pain that didn't manifest until the late '90s as hip-hop's only masked supervillain on Bobbito Garcia's Fondle 'Em Records. Carrying the weight of the past on his shoulders, Doom opens and closes Operation: Doomsday with frank and sincere lyric ... Read more »

Views: 838 | Added by: wre | Date: 18 Aug 2008 | Rating: 0.0/0 | Comments (1) |



In December of 2006 an era ended. After 20 years of playing practically the same three songs in hundreds of variations, Fred Cole's Dead Moon called it quits. During this time they've been the poster boys for how a garage band should be like - straightforward, approachable, and fueled with conviction - demonstrating that you can just live your dream as long as you don't give a rat's ass about anything else. As a result they've slowly built a devoted following (mostly in Europe - even mild success deluded them in the States, despite playing every festival they could find in their home state of Oregon), who go as far as tattoing the Dead Moon logo on various body parts.



In this time, Dead Moon played ... Read more »
Views: 5262 | Added by: illuminaut | Date: 15 Aug 2008 | Rating: 4.0/1 | Comments (1) |



For the uninitiated, Chris Knox is one half of the Tall Dwarfs, the New-Zealand band who pretty much defined Lo-Fi music in the 80s. Seizure wasn't his first solo album, but you could call it his first "proper" solo album. Where "Songs for cleaning guppies" was a sonic mess, Seizure is a pop gem. It sounds a lot like a Tall Dwarfs album, but is more upbeat and lyrics-centered. The tape loops and odd sound effects are still there, but they don't define the songs as much as they do in Tall Dwarfs albums of that era. This one features his probably best known song, "Not Given Lightly", which climbed the NZ charts and made a lot of people wonder about Knox' sexual orientation for the first time (the track "The Woman Inside of Me" probably contributed to this).


 1  The Face of Fashi ... Read more »
Views: 2503 | Added by: illuminaut | Date: 15 Aug 2008 | Rating: 5.0/2 | Comments (3) |



What turned out to be Bongwater's last album before the acrimonious end of the personal and professional Magnuson/Kramer partnership was a sellout only in the sense of the slick cover art and presentation, tongues firmly in cheek. Otherwise, the blend of folk, shadowy psych weirdness, and satiric spoken word and lyrical jabs against the state of the world, specifically America, run as rampant as always. Rick was replaced on second guitar by Raymond Hudson, but this made little general difference to Bongwater's overall approach and Kramer's distinct production style. The title track is one of their best, some lovely guitar drones and singing bringing out the weird, gentle melancholy of the song. Magnuson as always has a great time with her inspired monologues. "What's Big in England Now?" has her in sassy Noo Yawk voice talki ... Read more »
Views: 1261 | Added by: illuminaut | Date: 14 Aug 2008 | Rating: 5.0/2 | Comments (1) |

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