I don’t know if any of you were hoping for more early 80s Dutch punk in your life this afternoon, but for those of you who were, here’s the stunning “Van Agt” from RAKKETAX, a terrific loopy and raw female-fronted monster. Comes from the 7" comp “Utreg-Punx”, which neither you nor I currently have in our collection.
1989: Pussy Galore – Kennel Club, San Francisco
I went to this show. Pussy Galore were in their “Historian de la Musica Rock” death throes and were good but nothing like the band I’d seen two years earlier in LA at Raji’s. I took a woman named Jane as my date. Jane! Did you like seeing Pussy Galore with me??
Man, I used to love the GIBSON BROS, everything about them and then some. The bloom has only come off the rose a little in two decades, and I say that mostly because I played them to death in the 80s and 90s, making me far less likely to listen to them now.
Review from my Superdope #4 fanzine, 1992.
I wrote the liner notes for the BETTER BEATLES’ “Mercy Beat” LP a few years back; just listened to their amazing “Penny Lane” this week and thought I’d post it – and the liner notes – for you here. I also did an interview with the band that you can read here.
Historians, record nerds and armchair musicologists are just now extensively excavating the dark crannies of American do-it-yourself whatsis that emerged from the bloom of punk in the late seventies and early eighties. Some of the treasures found in mildewing crates and from deceased moms’ closets speak volumes about the energy and inventiveness of the USA’s bored youth at the time, giving rise to a sub-subculture that found its calling in twisted, art-infused noise & jagged-edge rock, not in “punk” per se – all original, all cleanly cleaved from the past, and often capturing a strange zeitgeist that popular media reckonings of the era seemed to have missed.
Then there was Omaha, Nebraska’s Better Beatles. They sported no originals – just savagely wacked, detuned, deadpan readings of Beatles material in a manner than no one save The Residents could have imagined in 1980. Sure, bands all over the US and the UK were making oddball 45s out of analog synthesizers, primitive recording techniques and decidedly arty leanings at the time, but few approached the deconstructivist beauty of The Better Beatles’ one and only single, the self-released “Penny Lane/I’m Down”. To hear this glorious single in the 21st century, as an increasing number of partisans have (a number sure to blossom with the release of the disc you’re holding), is to still stand agog that a group could go to such unforced, random-sounding lengths and not come off in the least as some dumb-ass, Dr. Demento-lite yuk band. The Better Beatles single isn’t even “funny”. It’s dark and at times transcendent, and it simultaneously lifts the Beatles’ unparalleled songcraft to new and even better heights, while destroying the mythos around the band just the same, in as snotty & underhanded a manner as the rottenest rotten punk you can conjure.
And to think – there was a whole tape’s worth of weirdo recordings of this ilk just sitting around all this time! You’ll probably be the best judge of whether the Beatles’ legacy can survive these covers intact, because different aural cavities are going to hear these unique sounds in all sorts of funny and ultimately polarizing ways.
Here’s a great photo of XYX playing live, taken from the WFMU Free Music Archive, where you can download a bunch of their stuff for $0.00.
XYX, the awesome Monterey, Mexico-based rocket-stun reverb/noise duo, may have packed it in last year, but it doesn’t mean I’ve stopped listening to ‘em. Here’s a fanzine piece written and illustrated by Anhelo Escalante, taken directly from her Flick stream (thanks, Anhelo….).
I guess as long as Fuckin’ Record Reviews are going to be so kind as to post my writings from over two decades ago, I might as well get in on the nostalgia trip as well, right?
Here’s a review from my own Superdope ‘zine #4 from 1992. I understand that these tracks will again be available shortly….!
I’ve long maintained that one of the great covers of any era was this 1982 take on Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” by Sacramento’s TRUE WEST. It was on their debut 45, and later on their first EP as well.
Big, swelling aggressive non-psych take on what was already a brilliant song. I saw these guys a few years later and they were already pretty watered-down jangle – opening for R.E.M. and The Three O’Clock, no less.
After playing a cool 2008 track from LITTLE CLAW on my most recent podcast, I checked the interweb to make sure they were broken up for good. They’re not! Still around! (That’s a good thing). They’re not based in Portland anymore, but they’re tourin’, and hopefully releasing new stuff soon. Here’s a picture of them in action in 2009 or so.
With the Australian doper-scuzz minimalists EASTLINK, it’s all about the riff. Heavy, punishing, repetitive riffs where 3 guitarists lock on to something intense and primal for four minutes, and only one guitarist outside of the core unit is allowed to stray into modulated feedback and a different pulsating riff.
“Wild Dog”, the one I’m posting for you here, reminds me of Vertigo’s germinal “Two Lives”, one of the late 80s’ most spectacular murders-by-guitar. Eastlink have members of UV Race and Total Control in their ranks, and my sources tell me that these two tracks came from a tape that was making waves last year (“remastered for extra punish”); other tracks from it are soon to be found on additional 45s as well.
AGONY SHORTHAND 