Amyl and the Sniffers - Big Attraction (2017)

Every morning I wake up disappointed that our president isn't gone yet. Being on the west coast of the US, I feel the east coast has a good 4 hours to greet the sun, roll up it's sleeves, and take out the trash already. I'm sorry, that's an insult to trash. At least trash was, at one point, something we wanted.. something that was useful ... something we chose to own. This president is more like a stepped in pile of shit from someone else's dog, after years of picking up your own dog's shit.

Thank god for this release from Melbourne punk band, Amyl and the Sniffers. It's not too serious, but sexy and dangerous... just what rock music should be. I want nothing more to be in a sweaty club in Melbourne with a bunch of drunk punk Aussies watching this band tear the stage a new asshole.

These songs have some serious chops, played by musicians who have done their homework and gotten the sound down pat. It probably helps having Calum Newton in their lineup, a fucking awesome guitarist from Spacerockmountain favorites Lunatics On Pogosticks. But Calum keeps his guitar chops bottled up here, delivering chunky punk riffage, and offering his keen production skills to showcase the real star of the band: the sneering, bratty bite of Amy Taylor, a truly wonderful performer to lead this bunch of dirty, drunk and mulleted rockers from dewn undah.


Name your price. Not a clunker in the lot.

Sample song:

Bandcamp:
Amyl and the Sniffers - Big Attraction

Sinoptik - 16​/​58 (2014)

Here again is an prime example of me losing track of a submitted album that was totally undeserving of being overlooked. I hoped my organization would've improved a little by now, but I'm still the same sloppy fool. Hope in one hand, shit in the other and see which fills up sooner, right? Yet, as they say, better late than never.

Now on the bandcamp page it has Chicago is the location of this band, but in the nice email I was sent about them it claims they're actually from Ukraine. The songs, sung in English with a bemusing accent mind you, are a sort of fusion of hard/garage rock with stoner/psychedelic rock. Many guitar flourishes on 16​/​58, crashing symbols and far-out noodling not to be left out either. A little bombast never hurt anyone, I mean progressive rock was a goddamn worldwide phenomenon after all. I genuinely enjoy this type of fast-paced rock and roll. The song "Alex Is Her Name" has become my wake up jam as of late. It's catchy as fuck, deserves to be in an action movie. Similarly I can't shake the tune of "Gold On The Ceiling" from my head. It usually requires a second after finishing the album through. Really there's not a song on the album that isn't exciting and a fine illustration of Western music diffusing around the world and be take on with excellence by musicians elsewhere.

Also, be sure to read the delightful text on the bottom of the bandcamp page, it is one of the better album descriptions I've seen on there, even if it seem less than fully accurate.

To be had here:
Sinoptik - 16​/​58

Dangus - Cannon (2014)

Dangus is a 2 person band from Oslo, Norway. Their music brings to mind a different sort of retro than what's normally talked about on this blog: glammy, '70s cock rock(hold the cock). That's perhaps an oversimplification (and something better suited for a different website) but I can't help but hear some early Kiss in these songs, minus the cheese and raunchy lyrics. One thing that stands out is that their lead singer doesn't sound like the type of singer normally associated with this kind of music. It's like a young James Mercer was asked to front the MC5 for a recording session. It takes a little getting used to but, in the end, it's worth it.

Dangus describes themselves as "garage rock born out of exile", and their bandcamp page says the music was recorded during the "economic recession". I don't know what an economic recession generally means for Norwegians, as my cursory understanding of matters is that Norway has things far better figured out than we do. What it means for all of us, is that Dangus had some time to create and share their contribution to the rock world in a modest but loud way, whether you'd call it garage or not.

If this is garage, it's garage that hung out at the bar every night from 1965 to 1975. It's garage with hair on it's chest, unafraid to keep those top few buttons open while brutalizing a cowbell and wailing mean guitar solos.

10 songs:

Dangus - Cannon

Lou Reed - The Blue Mask (1982)

I love Lou Reed. He belongs small group of people that I consider to be everlastingly cool (allowing for the wreck he recently did with Metallica, no one is free of follies). Lou Reed does something for me that very few artists achieve, I hang on every messed-up, strangely-sung lyric. Sometimes Reed is quite straightforward, but many of the tracks on The Blue Mask are odd as shit. To think this is the album he made after sobering up from drugs and alcohol. Even if I can't figure out why he's singing what he does, it is mighty captivating. Hope some of you like Reed as much as I do, because I've been listening to a different albums of his each morning as I walk to work, and I doubt I am gonna stop posting them now.

To be had here:
Lou Reed - The Blue Mask [320 kbps]

Chico Magnetic Band - Chicao Magnetic Band (1971)

This is a real oddity that I stumbled on the other day. Chico Magnetic Band was a psychedelic rock band that incorporated considerable elements to the hard rock of their era. They're real hard to pigeonhole though as they get rather far out. Formed in 1969 in France being called Chico & the Slow Death originally. In 1971 they released their only LP, which was limited to France alone from what I gather. Of course, with the passage of time people recognize brilliance and that is a good a word as any to describe the loud and impressive sounds of this band. The range encompassed by the song without changing the mood is great, with heavy rock freak-outs and spacey meanderings and dreamy guitar picking often all mixed up on the same track. Now normally I don't include pictures beyond the album art, but when I downloaded it had with it some righteous shots of the band that I feel compelled to post here as well.

To be had here:
Chico Magnetic Band - Chicao Magnetic Band [320 kbps]