Ty Segall Band, “Slaughterhouse” (In The Red, 2012)New one from the man (does he ever sleep?) features a further move into heavier, trippier dimensions of sound, but the basic template is still garage-punk, executed with his customary skill and force.Try 1, 4, 9, 11.7/12/12
Project X, “Straight Edge Revenge” (Schism, 1988)Without the public-responsibility burden of their “real” bands, members of Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, and (I think) Bold got together for a side project of pure HC, but but punching-skinheads-in-the-face, kicking-in-the-windows-of-the-venue good clean fun. Insane throttling guitar sound and wall-rattling beats.Start with 110/13/11
Psycoplasma, “Skitzo,” 7” (Gaga Goodies, 1989)Someone at Reckless labelled this as featuring Annabella of BowWowWow, but no, it’s only got a song called “Anna Bella.” Actually, this turns out to be fast, hard Joy-Div-inflected Finnish postpunk/HC, and pretty good at that.Try B/11/23/14
Public Image, Ltd., “This Is P. I. L.” ([self-released], 2012)First P. I. L. album in twenty years, and I actually really like it. Chiming guitars plus elliptical, spatially skewed song structures plus a blankly bright surface coating equals a model of P. I. L. that encompasses their entire career. And Lydon is in fine form, […]
Public Memory, “Wuthering Drum” (Felte, 2016)Minimal-electronic staff, on the border of synth-pop but more dislocated, in an unassumingly spare and clangy manner.Try 5, 1011/10/16
Puffy Ami Yumi, “Splurge” (Tofu, 2006)Hard-rock/J-pop hybrid whose secret weapon was great, melodramatic songs reminiscent of jacked-up Ziggy-era Bowie; these are some of their best.Try 8, 9, 13, 1410/4/14
Puffy Amiyumi, “An Illustrated History” (Bar/None, 2002; original recordings 1996-2002)They’d been toned down by the time they made it to America, but this Japanese pop duo’s ‘90s stuff, collected here, is mind-bogglingly inventive and effervescent. Mod, glitter, disco, new wave, Eurovision and more come together – sometimes in the same song! – in a big […]
Pure Hell, “Noise Addiction” (Welfare, 2005; original recordings 1978)Early punk band from Philly; they hung with Sid (see pics in booklet). Powerful musicianship, fine glam/Dolls/Stooges songs w/metal tinges, and a nicely nasty decadent/nightlife style to the whole thing.Try 10, 12, 1310/4/14
Pussy Galore, “Corpse Love” (Carolina, 1992; original recordings 1985-7)Pussy Galore weren’t the first band to equate the primitivism of raw, no-practice teenage garage rock and roll with that of extremist avant-noise, but nobody else boiled each side of the equation down to quite such a pure, brutal essence, or fused them together into something so […]
Pussy Galore, “Exile on Main Street” (Shove, 1986)A cover of (half of) the Stones masterpiece by this ahead-of-its-time garage-punk-noise army. A rattling, roaring assault that pays appropriate tribute to the Stones’ fuckup aesthetic with sometimes-unrecognizable versions that often sound learned on the spot.11/12/12