Wednesday 16 August 2017

The Worst - The Worst (Vinyl, Dig! Records 1993)



The ultimate Fuzz Garage album since years, yeah, these canadians put it all together: 14 brandnew cavetunes, the wyldest thing since the Gravedigger 5 & the Morlocks with snotty vocals, more fuzz & poundin’ beats -GENIOUS-                        -Soundflat Main Catalogue November 1995 
 
I'll never forget my first glimpse of THE WORST's front-man Greg Johnson. He was on stage, but his band wasn't performing. Instead, he was up-front heckling some lame "industrial synth" band at a club in his native Vancouver. A few minutes later, I watched helplessly from back-stage as he was kicked unconscious and dragged out of the place. I didn't even know him then, but I appreciated the fact that he put his body on the line that evening! Soon after I was introduced to what was left of Greg, and THE WORST quickly became my favorite Canadian garage combo. They opened for my outfit, The Overcoat, a few times on our return trip to Vancouver, and then I was lucky enough to help place their first waxing, on a 7" compilation EP. Two snot-filled EP's on the always cool Screaming Apple label ensued, and now you hold in your claws their first long-player. The road to their international super-stardom hasn't been smooth, however. Past members of THE WORST have wandered in and out of the band lineup like lost zombies, but Greg's mission has remained clear and true. Nothing will make it through the Greg-o-meter unless it has fuzz, guts and fun. The revolving door seems to have swung shut for now, thankfully, with some sympathetic cavemen in the clan. I was delighted to see two refugees from another of my fave underdog-garagers join up with Greg: both guitarist/ organist Rieuwert Buitenga and drum-hound Colin Raesler hail from the sadly gone Night Stalkers. While the Stalkers recorded some cool demos, nothing ever vinyl-ized, so it's great to hear their demented wafflings within these grooves. Chris Williscroft adds the bass thumping, as well as some vocal screeching, along with Greg and Rieuwert (pronounced "Roo-ert," in case you were wondering). (Compounding the mess is Colin Forsyth's guest organ on "The DT's," courtesy of another dead Canadian garage-gang, The Vindicators. THE WORST are a haven, it seems, for lost Canadian garage-teens! Johnny "13 Fingers" from Color Me Psycho, James T. Massacre of The Fiends, and The Reptiles' Eric Von Shlippen also jump onto the sonic junk-pile for these sessions.) It all adds up to this big debut album, which reminds me why garage/psych music is so much fun: it's colorful, gritty, real, authentic, instant, honest, and sounds great after a few beers...   -Timothy Gassen

The Worst - The Worst (Vinyl, Dig! Records 1993) FLAC    320

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The X-Ray Harpoons - Get Attuned To Our Tyme (CopaseDisques 2014)

  50 years ago a whole generation of bands emerged from the cellars of their parents' suburban homes, turning their teenage frustration into a mesmerizing vision of what they wanted their lives to be like. Fuzz guitars and organs were the weapons of choice in their crusade against the mustiness of their daily routine. Songs about sex, drugs and girls were their answer to a society that didn’t really try to understand them. In their search for the purest articulation of rock’n’roll they became the voice of a rebellious youth. The rest is history…
Rising from the ashes of the past, The X-Ray Harpoons take on these pioneers' legacy and bring 60s garage music into present day. After two highly acclaimed singles they finally release their debut album « Get attuned to our tyme » on the Hamburg-based label copaseDisques. In 13 psych-o-delic garage punk killers they wander on paths beyond popular 60s clichés and make clear that the genre is more than just a nostalgic belief that everything was better in the past.

The band first saw the lights of stage in 2006 and developed their own style of music, strongly influenced by sixties garage bands like The Music Machine, The Brogues or We The People and 80s Garage Revival Bands like The Fuzztones, The Gruesomes or The Gravedigger V. Through the years the line-up changed but they remained true to their ideals: Roaring basslines, screaming fuzz guitars, swirling organ sounds and a wild drumbeat merge into an intoxicating sound crowned by a strong expressive voice!

On their debut album they deliver 11 self-penned fuzz-drenched, organ-driven songs with frantic vocals + 2 carefully picked covers. All songs were recorded on 8 track reel to reel at Living Room Sounds by Roman Aul (Redondo Beat), mixed at Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Studios by Dennis Rux (Thee Pounders, Rhonda, Trashmonkeys) and mastered by Eroc (Grobschnitt).

The X-Ray Harpoons are not your average 60s garage revival band but mind-melting fuzz and organ-driven teenangst sounds that would fill the dancefloors in an alternative world. To accurately verbalize it: started in '66, stopped over in '85 to eventually arrive in the here and now! You can’t help but « get attuned to their tyme »    Source 


The X-Ray Harpoons - Get Attuned To Our Tyme (CopaseDisques 2014) FLAC    320

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Yesterday's Thoughts - Let's Take A Ride With... (CD Sound Effect Records 2006)


The Yesterday's Thoughts are a band from Athens, Greece and this their 2nd album since Action Records have released their debut in 2002. Their first appearance though took place in 1999 with the "Girl You're Gonna Cry" EP again by Action Records. This album includes 15 crude and authentic garage punkers in the best Back From The Grave style and if you need a comparison to a new band I would pick the Worst from Canada! You will get plenty of fuzz and farfisa in here plus snotty, complaining and angry vocals! Listen to songs like "I Can't Take It" and "Ball And Chains" and you will certainly be blown away by the monstrous fuzz and cry your heart out with "What Can I Do"! Splendid! Also, there is Sky Saxon appearing in two songs: "If I Had Some Marijuana" (if...?!) and "Build Yourself An Aero Plane"! So, Let's Take A Ride With The Yesterday's Thoughts, Cavemen and Cavegurls!!!   -Source 

Yesterday's Thoughts - Let's Take A Ride With... (CD Sound Effect Records 2006) FLAC    320

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Tuesday 15 August 2017

Zombie Valentines - Mejor Ahora (Sunny Day Records 2011)

 
Garage rock'n'roll band from Madrid, Spain. Debut album by spanish Pop masters. A colourful palette of influences, sounds and sensations encapsulated in 3-minute-wonders that go from powerful psyche-pop ala Move to Garage shots in the vein of Dr. Explosion, from New Wave Rock'n'Roll dancers thinking about Elvis Costello to delicate Beat ballads following the steps of Buddy Holly. 12 self-penned songs both in english and spanish plus a Tornadoes-style instro.    -Source

Zombie Valentines - Mejor Ahora (Sunny Day Records 2011) 320

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Saturday 12 August 2017

Big Bobby And The Nightcaps - Big Bobby Rocks & His Nightcaps Roll! (Screaming Apple Records 1998)

After the success of their two monster 45s on the US label BLACK LUNG and their EP on the ''Mighty Apple'', the crusaders of rawk and roll mayhem are now going to conquer the whole planet with their longawaited debut-album ''Big Bobby rocks & his nightcaps roll''. Hailing from Norfolk, Virginia, the band that features ex members of the M-80'S and the CANDY SNATCHERS, recorded 15 brandnew tracks for this album, which can be described best as a wild rockin' rollercoaster ride through the garages of the last four decades. Influenced by the rock'n'roll invasion of the Fifties, the teen-punk spirit of the Sixties and the aggression of the punk-rock of the Seventies, Bobby and his drunken bunch will kick ass and certainly take no prisoners. Just imagine Jerry Lee Lewis and Jeff Conolly's DMZ would jam with with the CYNICS and got even joined by the SWINGIN' NECKBREAKERS and you know you can expect the hell of a smokin' slab'o'wax.   Source

Big Bobby And The Nightcaps - Big Bobby Rocks & His Nightcaps Roll! (Screaming Apple Records 1998) FLAC    320

Enjoy!