Kristin Kontrol, “X-Communicate” (SubPop, 2016)I loved the DumDum Girls all through their transformation into a more airbrushed variety of garage-punk machine, but this goes way beyond that into full on ‘80s-style big-beat studio art-pop, like a Jane Wiedlin solo album. Thing is, like Jane, DeeDee writes great songs, all elegantly classic sweet melancholy or spiky […]
John Krautner, “Fun With Gum, Volume One” (Burger, 2015)Burger artists tend to have this particular knack for fusing blurriness and aggression that makes seemingly done-to-death genres sound fresh and spontaneous again, and Krautner’s take on Midwest power-pop is no exception. Loosely swinging mid-tempo beats drive cotton-candy-hazy and sweet sound-vignettes of bowling, supermarkets and summer fun. […]
King Kurt, “Last Will and Testicle” (GWR/Restless, 1989; original release 1981-88)British rockabilly revivalism dominated by a big, booming beat, garnished with reverbed-out guitars and a goof-ball vaudeville sensibility. Fun.Try 1/ 2, 1/ 4, 2/ 46/18/18
Kylie Minogue, “Fever” (Capitol, 2002)A timelessly great techno-dance-pop record. Cool grooves that move with the pneumatic precision and grace of starship airlocks, stark, hypnotic melodies, and Minogue’s giddy/eerie vocals make this like a pop take on the second Suicide LP.Try 1, 2, 3, 7, 87/29/13
Thomas Köner, “Novaya Zemlya” (Touch, 2012)Electronic/sampled composition from a guy with an abiding love for the coldest places on earth, including the titular area of Russia. Listen closely and you’ll feel the world around you thin out and come to a total halt.Try any of the 3 selections.8/23/12
La Luz, “Floating Features” (Hardly Art, 2018)Third album from these garage-punk/surf-rock PacNW women, and it’s definitely their best. The reverb-drenched tunes still hang dazed and hazy like swamp willows, but there’s an enticingly sharp melodic pop sensibility to them now that creates the emotional drama to pull off the mythic Americana they’ve always evoked, though […]
La Luz, “It’s Alive” (Hardly Art, 2013)Garage-punk women playing surf/girl-group stuff, kind of a “Stones” to Best Coast’s “Beatles.” It’s got a really lovely, haunted late-night feel that conjures up the Cramps in an elegiac mood backing an undead Astrud Gilberto.Try 1, 67/15/14
La Sera, “Sees the Light” (Hardly Art, 2012)La Sera Frontwoman Katy Goodman = Vivian Girls’ “Kickball Katy,” and this is in that band’s garage-punk/girl-group vein, but more clear and relaxed. This could be seen as a return to the primal mid-60s pop innocence of Vivian Girls’ first LP, and while I love their later stuff […]
Leaf Hound, “Growers of Mushrooms” (Repertoire, 2005; original recording 1969)Heavy psych-blues from Britain, similar to their contemporaries Led Zep but with a more frenzied, scramblesome approach. Fine stuff, and nice to hear this genre at its origin, with its identity still fluid and a sense it could still head anywhere.Try 1, 4, 77/29/12
Head On Electric, “Sleep Slaughter Sheep” (Dusty Medical, 2011)Garage-punk with really strong paisley-colored cloud of turbo-sludge that’ll have you thinking someone slipped you the Brown Acid.Try 3, 6, 7, 101/29/12