Outsiders, “Close Up” (Captured Tracks, 2014; original release 1978)These guys turned into postpunkers the Sound, but this is still first-wave punk rock, delivered with focus and force. In this still protean era, their music had elements of incipient postpunk angularity, MC5/Stooges-esque swagger/swing, and even pub-rock chug. Excellent songs, too.Try A/2, B/2, B/4, B/510/4/14
The Outsiders, “Monkey On Your Back: Their Singles” (Pseudonym, 2012; original release 1965-69)Leading light of the Dutch take on Beatles/Brit ‘60s guitar-beat. The songs are excellent, complex, often minor-key, and delivered with precision and punch. Really distinctive stuff.Try A/6, B/2, C/5, D/2, D/57/29/13
Pajama Party, “Up All Night” (Atlantic, 1989)The Miami variant of Latin Freestyle electro-dance-pop was always lighter and more effervescent-cute than the New York take, and these three were the sparkliest of Dade County’s musical champagne bubbles. As adorable as they are, though, the beats are slammin’ too.Try 1, 5,67/11/18
Milk Lines, “Ceramic” (In The Red, 2015)Guy/gal duo essaying my favorite strain of current garage-punk – melodic hard-edged psych. They have a nice erratic, churning virulence that has an authentically lysergic feel to it, and if you listen to this long enough you might well find yourself trapped in the canyons of your mind, pursued […]
Mind Spiders, “Meltdown” (Dirtnap, 2012)Good garage-punk, a bit generic, but with solid songwriting, a clean, dynamic Detroit-’68-like edge, and some fun psychedelic freakouts.Try 3, 105/5/12
Moby Grape, “Moby Grape” (Columbia, 1967)To complement our new copy of Skip Spence’s “Oar,” here’s the album Spence played on right before he went nuts (and made “Oar”) – one of the great San Francisco classics, folk-rock with wild, lashing, acid-fueled power, the sound of a band with way too much talent crammed in one […]
Flo Morrissey, “Tomorrow Will Be Beautiful” (Glassnote, 2015)Lush, paisley-colored folk-pop kaleidoscope, somewhere between Donovan and Stevie Nicks. What really makes this special is the way it goes beyond mood music to achieve that flamboyantly kooky charm/enchantment that gave the real ‘60s stuff its copelling personality.Try 2, 104/17/16
Bob Mould, “Beauty And Ruin” (Merge, 2014)Hadn’t paid attention to the dude for years, but that may have been my mistake. Either that or his dad’s death put fire in his veins, because this raging thunderball of Midwestern melancholy rocks like (dare it be said?) Hüsker Dü itself, and harder than their last couple albums.Try […]
Mourn, “Mourn” (Captured Tracks, 2015)Mostly female Spanish act, compared (justifiably for once) with Sleater-Kinney, though a version of Elastica if they’d leaned more to the Adverts than Wire might also fit. Distinctively Iberian minor-key melodrama drives wall-rattling mid-tempo crash-punk with hollerable hooks. Excellent work.Try 1, 5, 78/16/15
The Move, “The Very Best of” (Metro Music, 2000; originally released 1967-70)The Move embodied the transition from mod to psych to prog, but in heling to define those categories, they transcended them. This is wild, multi-dimensional rock and roll bursting with more melodic and rhythmic ideas than it can contain.Try 2, 3, 6, 9.4/19/13