We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It, “Bostin’ Steve Austin” (Vindaloo/WEA, 1986)Fuzzbox were outliers on the mid-‘80s UK C86/lo-fi guitar-noise-pop thing. Their sound was unique and unmistakable – thin, low-end guitar buzz over a fast, skiffle-style beat, drenched in echoey female vocals with all four members gleefully singing over one another, barely in […]
Weekend, “Red” (Slumberland, 2011)New EP shows these guys stepping somewhat aside from the wall-of-grey-guitar-churn Velvetsisms of their “Sports” LP. This has a nice jangly/moody vibe at times, but it’s still plenty propulsive, and now with proto-pop flourishes too.Try 2, 41/6/12
Kurt Weill, “Threepenny Opera” (MGM, 1952).This belongs in “rock” as much as (if not more than) in classical. The guy sounds contemporary to Randy Newman, VanDyke Parks, or Tom Waits, all of whom he in fact influenced. This is razor-edged, pounding cabaret music shot through with overtones of post-Schönberg dissonance, a perfect musical equivalent for […]
Wendy and Bonnie, “Genesis” (Sundazed, 2008)The original “Genesis” LP, written and performed by these teenage sisters, is one of the absolute most gorgeous, enchanting psych-folk-pop albums from the late ‘60s, crystalline songs shining through a light but brilliant curtain of studio sound. This reissue includes fine contemporary outtakes and ephemera, but “Genesis”-the-original is in a […]
Johanna Went, “Hyena” (Posh Boy, 1982)Damn near uncategorizable artifact from postpunk L.A. Went was a performance artist who did a lot of interesting birth/disemboweling/etc. stuff with sausages, ketchup, and what look like live worms in this one picture. The music is her ululating incomprehensible gibberish over an ultra-Kinetic, tonality-defying mélange of sKa, hardcore, new wave, […]
Wham!, “Fantastic!” (Columbia, 1983)Debut album from George Michael’s eventual Superstardom launchpad that damn near earns its exclamation marks. Rudimentary technopop souped up with canned-pineapple-esque Latinoid rhythms forms a backdrop for ear-snagging sing-songy vocals that play pseudo-political Brit-haircut-pop sloganeering for maximum silliness and fun.Try 1/1, 1/ 4, 2/1, 2/44/7/19
White Fence and Family Perfume, “Vol. 1 & 2” (Woodsist, 2012)Without Ty Segall, White Fence is less hard-driving, but this actually lets the sound cut loose into the most no-holds-barred psychedelic exploration of this neo-garage era. Not only is this stuff genuinely, exhilaratingly lysergic and unpredictable, it’s tethered to fine songwriting. Seriously, this guy is […]
White Mystery, “Blood and Venom” (White Mystery Records, 2011)Alex White gets exponentially better with each release, and this is the absolute fucking knockout LP I’ve been waiting for. The first thing to be said about Ms. White is that she can sing, the way Dusty Springfield could sing, the way Anita Baker can sing – […]
White Mystery, “Outta Control” (White Mystery, 2016)Alex White still has the most soulful wail in garage-punk, she and her “bro” (?) still pull off the thundering BoDiddley shuffle-beat like nobody else today, and to top it off this is their most tuneful, most varied and silliest effort to date.Try 2, 711/19/16
White Night, “Weird Night” (Burger, 2016)A couple different strains of the Burger “sound” converge here, winsomely nasal power-pop cotton-candy-twirling on the one hand and hazy psych-punk shuffle on the other. Add it up and a good time is had by all.Try 2, 3, 6, 84/7/19