Human League, “Dare!” (Virgin, 1982)The hits are deservedly revered, but what made them great is the luminous, precise, tense electro-pop minimalism that sounded unbelievably novel and alien at the time, and still feels advanced even now. Some of the “album tracks” are as demanding and confrontational as any of their earlier work, but with an […]
Human Skab, “Thunder Hips And Saddle Bags” (Family Vineyard, 2010; original recording 1986)Recorded in the mid-‘80s, this is the sound of a very hyperactive and hyper-imaginative ten-year-old boy banging on anything in sight in an attempt at “African music” while delivering stream-of-consciousness rants about nuclear war, He-Man, children’s graves, throwing rocks through people’s windows, and […]
Goggs, “Pre-Strike Sweep” (In The Red, 2018)Second album from this side project featuring Ty Segall and ex-Ex-Cult singer Chris Shaw. This rocks with the same dynamic-but-mid-range-thick-shock-chamber guitar-bass-drums wall-bang attack, but with even better tuneage in a melodic early-L.A.-hardcore vein (think Adolescents).Try A/1, A/410/18/18
Good Co., “Electro Swing For The Masses” (Good Co. Music, 2012)Here’s a weird item – a purported cross between electronica and swing-revivalism. A lot of this just sounds like an okay swing band with extra bleeps and bloops, but the best cuts achieve a genuine hybrid.Try 2, 78/23/12
Grand Funk, “Live Album” (Capitol, 1970)They never had the hip cred of their Detroit proto-metal cohorts MC5, but this early set is closer than you might think. Thundering power-trio roll-and-roar, a giant groove that delivers its crude overload with a certain paradoxical concision and restraint – the solos and songs are there to serve the […]
Al Green, “Call Me” (Hi, 1973)Lot of people think this is the last great Golden Age soul man’s best LP, and I’m one of ‘em. The Hi house musicians put out a shimmeringly calm pulse that reaches its height of sublime late-night mystery, and Green’s vocals don’t so much rise to the apex of passion […]
Groovie Ghoulies “Born in the Basement” (Eccentric Pop, 2016; original release 1994)Kitschy horror trappings, but this is classic melodic, driving garage-rock, more winsomely pop than punk, with good tunes.Try 1/ 2, 1/ 8, 2/1, 2/36/18/18
Grown-Ups, “Ode to the B-Dog,” 7” (Sympathy, 1997)Mixed-bag single from young L.A. indie-punk slopsters. Best is the hardcorish A/1, A/21/23/14
Joanna Gruesome, “Weird Sisters” (Slumberland, 2014)This falls into the neo-C’86/twee Brit-style indie-guitar-pop niche that’s one of this label’s signatures, and this group actually is from the U. K., but this is unusually hard-driving, volatile and convulsive stuff, shot through with atonal outbursts and hidden song-structural trapdoors and hairpin turns. Brash, raw, gorgeous.Try 1, 2, 6, […]
Guilty Pleasures, “Summer Strange” (Dusty Medical, 2011)Teeth-rattlingly frenzied garage-punk that barrels from the start of the album to the end at Mach 10 without letup, like Teengenerate but more Detroit/Stooges inflected. It does tend to blur, but the best songs are catchy enough to stand out.Try 2, 6, 8, 111/29/12