Every two months, you will found a bunchload of (mostly) exciting
reviews of recently (re)issued records. Tired of the one-man-thing,
I asked a couple of pals to contribute so I was very pleased that all
three of 'em were delighted to join the "Batarang Review Gang".
'M&M' and 'Tom Bazooka' will start contributing from the September-October
issue, while 'Sam' shares his love for trashy lo-fi rock 'n roll from
now on... |
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JULY - AUGUST 2005 |
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 Daddy
Wants a Cold Beer and Other Million Sellers - THE A-BONES (Norton Records
2005 - 2CD)
Some ten years ago, I attended a concert by the A-Bones and to this
day, it still is the most frantic balls out garage rock 'n' roll party
I have ever witnessed. The sloppy greatness of their sound and the
beer-addled enthusiasm made the sweaty crowd dance like fools for
over two hours. Unfortunately, it was a one-time experience since
the A-Bones only made it once to Europe. This awesome compilation
however comes close to the greatness of that fabulous night in 1993.
'Daddy Wants A Cold Beer And Other Million Sellers' celebrates the
A-Bones' 20th Anniversary and culls 46 tracks from singles & unissued
tracks. As with all Norton releases, this terrific release comes with
a giant photo booklet and exciting liner notes. Party time!!! *luKe*
|
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 Es
Largo El Camino - ANA Y JAIME (Amort Records 2005)
Columbian brother-sister duo Ana y Jaime were only teenagers (respectively
15 and 17 years old!!!) when they recorded 'Es Largo El Camino'. Sung
all in Spanish, this obscure 60's gem has now been reissued although
I doubt whether this is an official release because there is no barcode
and the packaging is really poor. The music however is a true revelation
: wonderful psychedelic folk sounds & fabulous cool organ-drenched
60's pop! The songwriting is amazing and it's very hard to pick favourites
as all of the 13 songs are truly godlike! I rate Ana Y Jaime as high
as Os Mutantes which is quite a statement but then again, the music
on 'Es Largo El Camino' really is a gift from heaven! A quintessential
release! (I bought my copy at The Freak Emporium, non-Europeans
should try Other Music.) *luKe*
|
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 Hooked
By Love – The Best of HOMER BANKS (Stateside/EMI Records 2005
- midprice CD)
This midprice compilation by Homer Banks simply ranks
among the greatest soul reissues of the last couple of years. It might
as well have been the next installment in Honest Jons' recent reissue
series of unsung soul heroes (remember those terrific Candi Staton,
Bettye Swann and Willie Hightower collections). Homer Banks, who died
two years ago in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, was an amazing
producer and songwriter (among others for the Stax label) as well as
a very gifted Southern soul singer. This anthology concentrates solely
on Banks' small but formidable body of work as a singer. The songs fall
broadly into two camps: the riff-heavy dance tracks and the big Southern
soul ballads. He proves himself a master of both styles. Although much
lesser known, Homer Banks' versatile talents can easily be compared
with Don Covay's. The release of these recordings was mooted first at
Sequel then at Westside and finally at Connoisseur Collection, but now
in 2005 they finally arrive on CD at their natural home - Stateside.
Hard to figure why such a great legacy has been gathering dust for so
long since this is 24 karats Southern soul music. The informative booklet
with song-to-song info is an added bonus to this 20-track compilation.
A landmark release and essential purchase! *luKe* |
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 Battleship
- BATTLESHIP (Raw Deluxe 2005 - LP)
Cool noisy, weird and bitter post-punk album by this band Battleship
here. I have no idea where these guys come from or what they look
like or whether their bottoms look feasible or whatever, but they
do seem able to combine the art punk utter destruction of bands like
The Piranhas and The Popular Shapes with a macabre touch of The Phantom
Limbs and maybe just a sniff of hardcore. This is a one-sided 7-song
LP and “Parasite” is my favourite. They sound
like bad dressers. *sAm*
|
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 Black
Lips: Live at WFMU LP (Dusty Medical)
These Atlantians play that totally stripped down yet surprisingly
original sounding garagepunk crap, yours truly just happens to enjoy.
These recording were made live at the WFMU radio station in New York
and in fact I think this is the best they have ever done. Comes in
a very cool DIY self pasted package with a “Bad to the bong”
theme. The titles on the back of the album are all fake, as this contains
all your favourites like “I got a knife”, “Freak
out”, “Juvenile”, etc., etc.…also
the original version of “She’s not white”,
a song they gave to the Lids. They sound as wild, funny and destructive
as you would expect them to be, or as they put it themselves: “We
from Georgia, so we’s stupid”, leading up to a radioman
ending these historical recordings with the words: “What
a mess”. I can’t wait to see them in the Pit’s
again. I would already like to announce that I plan to get very, very,
very, very, drunk on said occasion. I might also be naked while eating
French fries and make comical movements with my penis while dancing.
I haven’t made up my mind yet. *sAm*
|
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 Brainkiller
- BRAINKILLER (LP)
Another killed by death/bloodstains across/hyped2death alike compilation,
with the difference that this is a bit wavier than aforementioned
comps and that it’s actually freaking good, compared to some
of the more recent KBD’s. What you get here is all American
stuff ’77-’83, ranging from better known or already reissued
things like Crime, The Gizmos, Los Reactors (with the killer synth
driven track “Be a zombie”) and Cynecide, but
also some very interesting obscurities like The Symptoms, Bob, The
Tanks, The Units,…the strange ducklings in the batch geographically
are Familia Real from the Canary Islands (?!). Cool to think how apart
from hordes of fat swimmingshorts wearing German tourists in the late
70’s these islands were also inhabited by swastika wearing teenage
punks. This might have a bit more synths than your usual compilation
of punk rarities, but I think it’s very good and I even think
it can stand right up there with the first four KBD’s. *sAm*
|
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 Demon's
Claws - DEMON'S CLAWS (P-trash Records 2005 - LP)
Cool new garage rock’n’roll band from Montreal, Canada
featuring Skip Jensen (Scat Rag Boosters) on drums if that’s
a reference. It’s pretty raw in production and exciting enough
to keep me coming back to this, as I’m just a fan of this kind
of ’60 inspired broken down garage/r’n’b stuff.
Reminds me of a faster Mystery Girls. Nice. *sAm*
These guys sound like the bastard sons of the mighty Cheater Slicks.
The wild sloppy sound of raw guitars & desperate vocals make this
an awesome killer release. Hands down, one the best punk-blooze releases
of 2005! Buy or die!!! *luKe*
|
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 Radioactive
- DUTCH MASTERS (Goner Records 2005 - 7”)
New Memphis outfit featuring Eric Oblivian and Scott Rogers from
the Cool Jerks, but sounding pretty different from these previous
bands, as this is very straightforward punk stuff and with a-side
“Radioactive” they might have written the near
perfect song in said genre, add to this that the two songs on the
b-side are killer as well and you find yourself hooked up with one
mandatory 7”. Now let us just cross our fingers and pray that
Robby G. gets these guys to make it across the big pond in the fall.
*sAm*
|
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 Learn
to hate the feelers - THE FEELERS (Dead beat Records 2005 - LP)
I had very high expectations of this and although this sounds a
bit stranger in production then I thought it would be, I can already
announce that this is probably going to one of THE records of 2005
for me. What you get here is the best of 70’s punk without any
of the boring clichés pulled through a modern day meatgrinder.
The Catholic Boys meeting up with the Clone Defects after getting
total wrong road directions from The Spits, to create this record
on a four track in the neighbourhoods crappiest glasscontainer and
steal booze and cigarettes from the Reatards. Very artpunk but totally
bouncy, wild, aggressive and all the other big words you wanna hear.
However this nowhere tops their “Fuhrer’s New Miniskirt”
7” this is an absolute must have. *sAm*
|
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 Final
Solutions: Eye don’t like you 7”(Shit Sandwitch)
Oh boy, oh boy! Memphis’ stupid sunglasses and ducktape clad
sleeveless punk thugs The Final Solutions have returned with another
7” and it rips. Jay Reatard on drums, goofy yet dangerous keyboard
and Zack’s mongoloid singing are once more combined in 3 blast
of utter nihilism and the “please give these guys a fanta”
feeling is omnipresent. Get this now or weep like a little whipped
puppy later. *sAm*
|
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 Rosco’s
Rhythm – ROSCO GORDON (Charly Records 2005 - Budget CD)
Here's another great budget release featuring 30 (!)
R&B killer drillers by one of the most distinctive of urban bluesmen.
Rosco Gordon began his recording carreer at Sam Phillips' SUN label
and most of those dynamite tracks, recorded between 1951 and 1956, can
be found here. It's great to hear how this cool cat's enthusiasm for
music shines through these raucious recordings. The compilers proudly
state that this is one of the most comprehensive Rosco Gordon packages
and I full heartedly agree. Definitely hard to beat! *luKe* |
|
 Here
comes… - THE HEARTATTACKS (P-trash Records 2005 - LP)
From Savage-city Stockholm comes yet another great punk’n’roll
explosion, this time featuring members of The Blacks and The Tokyo
Knives and although I wasn’t that impressed by their previous
7” this album will blow you away. They can easily win the Teengenerate
copycat award of the 2000’s (heavily Swedish accented vocals,
four songs with the word “baby” in the title alone) but
that’s ok, as it’s very well done. It’s the same
rollercoaster ride you’ve been on a zillion times before, but
that doesn’t make it any less fun, and I’m sure all you
garagepunker types will be happily giggling along to this in your
little rooms, probably surrounded by enormous piles of used Kleenex.
*sAm*
|
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 Hot
Machines: hole in my heart 7” (Cass)
I discovered this band on the 'Maybe Chicago' compilation but it
wasn’t until I saw some of their live footage on the 'Chicago
blackout 2003' DVD that I became seriously impressed. As you have
probably already figured out this is another Chicago band, consisting
of a fiery 20-year old redhead called Miss Alex White on guitar, Jered
from The Ponys on the other guitar and Matt from the Baseball Furies
on drums. They play a great Velvet Underground/Modern Lovers inspired
kind of fierce and intense garage rock’n’roll that works
very good for me. The a-side “Hole in my heart”
is a slower Patty Smith alike song sang by Alex and b-side “I
draw your face” a faster rocker sang by Jered. I don’t
know if they are still active, but this is sure worthy of your attention.
*sAm*
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 Circuit
breaker love - KILL-A-WATTS (Rip Off Records 2005 - LP)
If you like 'real' punkrock, you like Rip Off Records and if you
like Rip Off Records you gotta love the Kill-A-Watts. Although they’ve
broken up by now, I think this second album shows the band at it’s
peak, right up there with their “New things”
7”. While not straying too much from the first album sound wise,
the songwriting is better and it all blends together nicely. For those
off you unfamiliar with this 2 guys/1 girl outfit with male/female
vocals I could tell you they play fast punk’n’roll in
the vein of Teengenerate, New Bomb Turks, and the whole nowadays 'Wisconsin
invasion' and do a cool cover off “Can’t stand the
Midwest” by Dow Jones and the industrials, so I guess this
would go nicely with striped t-shirts and hot dogs. *sAm*
|
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 THE
KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW (Goner Records 2005 - LP)
Holy Shit! This is awesome!! Two of the most exciting men of the
Canadian punk rock 'n roll scene team up and make an instant classic
album! Well, in fact they already played together in The Spaceshits
but this is something else : 12 bona fide smash hits that keeps you
spinning the album over and over again. This is the kind of record
you will cherish for the rest of your life, a platter for every occasion,
the ultimate proof that real rock 'n roll will never die. I'm speechless.
This is the shit!!! *luKe*
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 King
Khan & the Shrines: Mr.Supernatural LP (Hazelwood)
Superwild and ultra-groovie chieftain King Khan (ex-Spaceshits)
and his tribe of shrines returns with one heck of a great soul/funk/boogaloo
album that will fill dancefloors immediately and lead up to some quite
out of control buttshaking. It contains mainly wild dancers, some
James Brown/King Coleman alike howlers and both sides have a cool
ballad type song. Essential at any party and in these gloomy days
of MTV r’n’b crap this is something to lock yourself in
the house with and spin it over and over and over and… *sAm*
|
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 In
de winkel - KRUNCHIES (Criminal IQ 2004 - lP)
After being very impressed by their “Wargasm”
7” last year I knew I had to pick this up as soon as possible,
which proved to be a very wise decision indeed, as the Chicago hardcore/punk
maelstrom captured on these 12” of black plastic blows me away
time and again. Hard, fast & furious songs, pounding drums, Amanda’s
and Kevin’s vocals work very well together and the overall feeling
is a very tight one. They seem to draw influences from the early hardcore
bands like Black Flag or The Circle Jerks, but also go very well with
modern punk bands like The Feelers, Catholic Boys, Functional Blackouts...
The best hardcore/punk record of 2005 so far, unless you’re
one of those Agnostic Front types off course. *sAm*
|
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 The
Lamps - THE LAMPS (in the red 2005 - LP)
Ooooh yeah, I know some of you garagepunkers will hide under your
cosy little KBD blankets as soon as I mention the name “In The
Red” but if you don’t pick this up I declare you a fool,
as this is just awesome! Think all the old Crypt stuff : Beguiled,
Cheater Slicks, Country Teasers, Oblivians,…raw vocals, angry
hooks and total fuckedupness are the basic ingredients here, very
dark and making you wanna dance around in the most ridiculous way
and smash something at the same time, yet this description doesn’t
do them any justice, as they seem to have developed their own sound.
These guys came completely out of the blue to me but I sure hope to
hear more from them in the future. Your new favourite band! *sAm*
|
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 The
Covert Stomp - DAN MELCHIOR (Hate Records 2005 - LP/CD)
Here’s a great collection from our favourite garage blues
troubadour. Dan Melchior is originally from London but moved to New
York City in 2000. Most people will know him from his work with Billy
Childish and Holly Golightly, but where he really shines is on a couple
of albums he recorded with his band The Broke Revue and on some solo
stuff he did for various obscure labels. Although the roots of his
music go back to American folk music from the Great Depression Era
and lowdown prewar blues, his music easily stands on its own. This
collection is subtitled ‘Archival Recordings 1992-2002’
and features 17 previously unreleased recordings, most of ‘em
recorded in England. What we get to hear are some great renditions
of old blues songs like Skip James’ “Special Rider”,
Blind Willie McTell’s “Broke Down Engine”
(godlike!) and Bukka White’s “Aberdeen Mississippi
Blues”. The way he adds that great raw garage blues touch
to these classics is a pure delight and proofs that Melchior is not
a silly copycat. Next to these cover versions are traditionals arranged
by the man himself. Genuine interpretations of gems like Sam Cooke’s
“Wade in the Water” and The Tenneva Ramblers’
“The Longest Train I Ever Saw” show that Dan
Melchior is a true artist with his heart in the right place. Add to
this a couple of great originals and you get an idea of the greatness
exposed on ‘The Covert Stomp’.The CD version has 2 extra
songs, both formats issued by the Italian 'Hate Records'. *luKe*
|
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 The
Mojomatics: A sweet mamma gonna hoodoo me LP (Alien Snatch)
Besides The Intellectuals and Motorama sunny Italy has yet another
rock’n’roll duo to offer. These gentlemen go under the
name 'The Mojomatics' and happen to have produced one of the best
rock’n’roll/bluespunk records ever made by a two man band.
This will get you shaking from the beginning to the end, from straight
rock’n’rollers to swampblues infested stuff over bluegrass
tingled ditties with an omnipresent stomp and cool harmonica that
never comes too much into the foreground. This sounds very full for
a 2-man band and if there was any justice in this cruel world they
should at least have a pizza named after them. *sAm*
|
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 M.O.T.O:
Single files CD (Criminal IQ)
Now if there ever was a band that’s been very sadly overlooked
it’s the masters of the obvious. These guys are from Chicago
and have been going since the mid-eighties, releasing about 18 albums,
almost all on cassette and this is a compilation of their singles
from 1988 to 1994. These guys play punk/powerpop with a greatness
you have never witnessed, and with a funny simplicity that makes loli
and the chones look like brain surgeons. Songs like “Crystallize
my penis”, “It’s so big it’s fluorescent”,
“I’m infected”, “Places we used
to go” all remain clustered inside your skull, causing
you to hum along to them all day. If you haven’t been introduced
to M.O.T.O yet, then get this, as this is ESSENTIAL. *sAm*
|
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 N°1
de Number 1 (Popular African Music 2004 - CD)
Günter Gretz of the wonderful German ‘Popular African
Music’ label has issued a third volume in Dakar Sound’s
anthology of Senegalese legends Number One de Dakar. He proudly states
that this compilation does not feature tracks that are on the Dakar
Sound releases which is some mighty good news since Number One de
Dakar tracks are scarce as hen’s teeth. After I had bought this
CD, I felt like a fidgety schoolboy and could hardly wait to pop the
CD in the stereo. As soon as I had done, I realised that this collection
of tracks that are compiled from various albums and cassettes is another
essential African milestone. Not an everyday occurrence! At times,
Orchestre Number One de Dakar consisted of up to 15 musicians and
attracted excited audiences all along the West African Coast during
the 1970’s. Their style was broad : from traditional wolof music
to popular latin stuff. The group consisted of five singers, of whom
the salsa crooner Pape Seck would later become famous as the founding
member of African salsa legends Africando who also featured Medoune
Diallo from Orchestre Baobab and amateur boxing champion Nicolas Menheim.
The music on ‘N°III de Number 1’ is breathtakingly
beautiful. "Alee" for example is the kind of majestic
African ballad that only true legends are able to deal with. It’s
a praise song for King Bilame Diemé, a generous ruler who always
cared for his people. The respect and devotion of the singers and
musicians shines throughout this brilliant song. The sounds Yakhya
Fall conjures out of his guitar are extraordinary. He truly is a master
on the effect pedal and his inspirational playing is pure magic. In
"Yonou Dara Ji" for example, his guitar goes where
few have gone before (and ever since). You won’t find this unique
guitar player in Mojo’s ‘100 Greatest Guitarists Of All
Time’ which tells a lot about the genuineness of that certain
mag and is another classic example of Western supremacy. I myself
am really hooked on this terrific music which guarantees a transcendental
experience. You own it to yourself to listen at least once to this
amazing collection. It is mind-blowingly good, really! *luKe*
|
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 Basement
Anthology 1976-84 – PENETRATORS (Swami 2005 - CD)
Most of the tracks that appear on this CD are taken
from the 1988 'Kings of Basement Rock' collection on Venus Records that
gathered the band's early singles and unreleased favorites from 1976-1982.
This greatest hits collection was later reissued on Italy's Rave Up
Record as part of their 'American Lost Punk Rock Nuggets' and
that title really hits the nail on the head! Syracuse's The Penetrators
were a rebellious bunch of wannabe rock 'n roll stars that made the
kind of irresistible & snotty garage punk rock and roll that still
sounds vital today. There are too many standout tracks to list highlights
and some, like the genious "Rock-N-Roll Face", have
become real anthems in this household! I don't know why the people at
Swami replaced the studio version of "The Scandalizer"
by a live version but with 7 bonus tracks, a "Shopping Bag"
video and 44 classic Penetrators images there's really no reason to
complain at all! *luKe* |
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 Music
For Funsters – REAL LOSERS (Alien Snatch 2005 - LP)
Whooaaaaaa!!!! Talking about a party album!! After their raw-assed
blasting debut album on Squirrel Records, 'Music For Funster' is another
noisy punk rock 'n roll attack that'll make you swing the curtains
& go completely berserk! Adrenaline-driven & way over the
top, this is the kind of record that makes my day! If you don't get
a kick out of this, uhm... well, I suppose you better keep on comparing
the latest range of megapixel camera cellphones... *luKe*
|
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 Monster
Child - REATARDS (Zaxxon Virile Action 2005 - 7”)
Yeeeaaas! Praise the lord in heaven and all the faggy looking little
angels above as the Reatards have reformed and blessed us with a new
7”. With sweaty hands I put on this highly anticipated masterpiece
and the satisfaction was immediate. From the first seconds when Jay
screeches: “You’re such a pretty dame, I believe I
used to dream” it’s just one hate and frustration
filled 4-song bluespunk deadride to the final collapse. As pissed
off as Jay was at 16, the more pissed off he seems at 25(?), and I
got the same feeling all over again like when I heard “I’m
so gone” for the very first time. Three new songs and one
alternate version of “Tell a lie on me”. Get
this! *sAm*
|
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 River
City Tanlines: Black knight 7”(Misprint)
Apart from her (great) indierock band Mouserocket the ever prolific
Alicja Trout (Lost Sounds) now has another non-Jay Reatard project
called The River City Tanlines, just because it sounded funny. Fun
does seem to be the main goal here with songtitles like “Bummer
in the summer” or “Drag you down to my level”
and there’s nowhere a synthesizer around, but pretty bouncy,
beer in hand sorta bored at a barbeque in the backyard kinda straight
up rock done the Alicja way. *sAm*
|
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 Shop
Fronts/DC Snipers 7” (Your Permanent Records 2005)
Great, great, great New York split here, with the DC Snipers rockin’
out some very decent late 70’s influenced punkrawk, but the
winners for me personally here are the Shop Fronts. This band off
2 girls, 2 boys and female vocals play that typical NY punk’n’roll
sound we’re used from all the local 70’s bands (Ramones,
Heartbreakers…) as well as modern bands such as The Mullens,
The Stallions, The Little Killers, The Tie Reds and with a bit of
soul jive like The Ghetto Ways but rawer. The guy from Underground
Medicine mailorder told that “these recordings don’t
live up to the band”, so I’m pretty dazzled as what
to expect from them in the future. *sAm*
|
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 We
don’t care about your good times - TURPENTINE BROTHERS (Alive
Records 2005 - LP)
I was actually pretty excited when I found the album of this New
York garagerock’n’roll band at my front door, as I knew
it had Tara from Mr. Airplane Man in it and Oblivians comparisons
were flying all over in reviews. But I don’t really hear any
Oblivians, I think it’s more Reigning Sound than anything else,
not that that’s a bad thing off course, it’s just that
this is getting somewhat generic and boring to me after a while. I
mean it’s not all bad, “People are talking”
for example is a great song, but overall it isn’t doing
much for me and it doesn’t seem all that special. Well, maybe
I still have to get into it and should spin it some more. *sAm*
|
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 I
am homicide 7” (Shit sandwich), Incarcerated 7” (Die slaughterhaus),
On your video 7”(Smart guy) - TYRADES
I love the Tyrades: hooky aggression, energy, wild show, Jenna’s
awesome vocals and the fact that they seem to be able to repackage
the 'punk' thing into something totally excitingly relevant and unheard
makes them one of my favourite post-2000 bands. Hence this little
comparative study of their most recent 7-inches. First of all the
“I am homicide”, of which the titletrack is possibly
their best song yet, “He’s so popular” on
the b-side is also killer, although I think it’s a cover. The
best single in the batch in my opinion, also the most '77' style one.
“Incarcerated” takes on a more artpunk wire-esque
approach, but utterly great, my favourite being “Who’s
gonna pass the PCP”. “On your video”
continues in the same vein, but not with the standard amount of greatness,
although “Out of touch” is pretty good. All these
releases are worth picking up, but I would go for the album and the
“I am homicide” before “On your video”.
*sAm*
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