Turing Machine, “What Is The Meaning of What” (Temporary Residence, 2012)When last heard from, several years ago, these guys were playing a kind of updated 70’s jazz-rock fusion, delivered with hardcore’s force/velocity crux and Stooges-esque dynamic heaviness. Now they’re back, similar, minus the drummer (who died) but plus a hard electro edge that makes ‘em […]
Carter Tutti Void, “Transverse” (Mute, 2012)Don’t know Mr. Void, but “Carter” and “Tutti” are Chris and Cosey, founding members of Throbbing Gristle, and this is definitely in the vein of that group’s pulsing, tribal-brutal power electronics, though tinted with the cold elegance of C & C’s later, synthier work . . .With sporadic jets of […]
Tutu & the Pirates, “Sub-urban Insult Rock” (Factory 25, 2010; original recordings 1977-79)Very early Chicago punk band, and this is good, though not as mind-blowing as I’d hoped – less proto-Stooges explosive than wacky ‘70s rock/Zappa dudes reading “punk” as a license for studied outrageousness. Still, the best of this is punchy, rousing, and as […]
Twin Peaks, “Sunken”(Autumn Tone, 2013)Garage-punk with a nice psych/jangle emphasis and open-ended song structures that make room for exciting sun-through-the-trees-feeling sound-bursts.Try 1, 87/15/14
Tyvek, “Fast Metabolism” (What’s Your Rupture?, 2007; original recordings 2005-7)Early singles and such from these guys that make me finally get why they’re seen as a big deal. Not merely “garage,” this is punk rock, as it gets rediscovered over and again, in the mid-‘60s, the late ‘70s, and now today. Classic-sounding song structures powered […]
UFO Or Die, “Cassettetape Superstar” (Time Bomb/Public Bath, 1996)A side project of the Boredoms from their crazed cubist noise-rock period (early ‘90s), this is almost a dub version of their standard sabbath/no-wave/HC/funk attack, with lots of odd gaps in the sound, a distant, muffled quality at times, and slippery dynamic shifts guaranteed to mess with […]
Upset, “She’s Gone” (Don Giovanni, 2014)Former members of Vivian Girls and Hole, but this doesn’t really sound like either of them. Rather, this weds angular, precise, elliptical post-punk structuralism to melodic teen-classic power-popisms. Picture Sleater-Kinney covering Best Coast, or vice versa. Really memorable, distinctive songwriting, too.Try 2, 4, 7, 82/21/16
Useless Eaters “Singles 2011-2014” (Slovenly, 2014)I really like these guys. Garage-punk that touches on the neo-goth noir-tincture that’s hit the style lately, while hearkening back to a more ‘90s-era gutter snottiness as well. This stuff has a nice alien sheen to it, and well-thought-out, memorable songs, too. In short, the Useless Eaters walk with the […]
Ut, “Griller” (Blast First, 1990)Long-running post-no-wave noise-rockers bow out with a great album that consolidates their earlier work; it’s still shadowy, ill-shaped and abrasive, but the songs really move this time. Ut were pretty unique, but picture a point in between the Raincoats and Daydream Nation and you’re getting close.Try 6, 7
Cherry Vanilla, “Bad Girl” (RCA, 1977)Cherry Vanilla was a Warhol scenester in the late ‘60s, had some sort of involvement with Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie, and stuck around Max’s Kansas City long enough to be in on the first wave of punk rock in NYC. This is her first album, and it’s got hints of Little […]