New OUTTATHEGARAGE
Screamin’ all the way to the zoo! ________________________________
LAS ASPIRADORAS Mil Punaladas Soundflat LP
www.soundflat-records.de
Ravaged vocals, psychotic monkey noises and a gnarly storm of Farsifa and fuzz guitar – it must be another Spanish
garage band. Surely, there’s gotta be something in the tapas which turns these Latin lads into snarling beasts. Emerging from the groundswell created by groups like Wau Los Arrrghs!! and Toledo neighbours The Hollywood Sinners come Las Aspiradoras, a five-piece who have been playing a savage yet darkly atmospheric organ-driven blend of garage-punk and surf since forming in 2009. Recorded at Circo Perotti in Gijon, the
band’s debut album Mil Punaladas is a gloriously demented 10-tracker of catchy wigged-out rock ’n’ roll sung entirely in frenetic Spanish that brings to mind such formidable talents as Los Saicos, Los Magnificos and The Fuzztones – especially through Lana Loveland’s spooky way with an organ.
Listening to this devilish slab of vinyl you
can well imagine the sweaty fun to be had when these guys take to the stage. Alan Brown
DIE ERSTEN MENSCHEN Apocalypse Now & Then Bachelor LP
www.bachelorrecords.com
Modern garage bands like Austria’s Die Ersten Menschen try hard to avoid merely duplicating the sounds of their
’60s Teenage Shutdown and Back From The Grave heroes, but in doing so they lose the joy and spirit of the originals. What the band could really do with is a strong lead vocalist. The trio are capable of producing tight backing vocals but the leads are uniformly whiny and miserable. Theirs is a style perfect for an EP but, on this evidence, a whole album is asking way too much. The album was mixed by Crypt Records’
Tim Warren, and the overall sound isn’t far away from some of his ’90s signings, who similarly had the sound and fury, but neither the tunes nor strong vocals of their ’60s inspirations. Phil Suggitt
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THE FUZZTONES Preaching To The Perverted Stag-O-Lee CD
www.stag-0.lee.com
Some things are best left unchanged. Did The Ramones write a rock opera or The Cramps ever issue a dance mix? Nope. So
why should The Fuzztones ever change? And why would we want them to? If still maintaining a Dorian Gray look, ole Rudi Protrudi has been around for a long time and perfected his very singular psychedelic garage motif. The sex pun album title may seem naff,
but once into the record it’s as fine a mix of The Music Machine, Electric Prunes, Kenny & The Kasuals, Seeds, Strawberry Alarm Clock and Doors as you could hope for. In fine voice and as dynamic with his fluid leads as ever, Rudi still impresses on all counts, whilst the shimmering organ of Lana Loveland and solid support of the new band, with the odd turn from The Magnificent Brotherhood, are energetic, sharp and effective throughout. They may now have become a comic book version of themselves, but no one does it quite like The Fuzztones. Better than ever, whatever some may
say. Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills
THEE MARTIAN BOYFRIENDS Thee Martian Boyfriends Lost In Tyme CD
www.myspace.com/lostintymerecords Thee Martian Boyfriends are a bunch of crazed Belgians, or, as they would have it, “four little green men with
a huge organ” who play infectious ’80s garage fuzz and Farfisa. They don’t care about not being original, because their songs are good simple fun and will make you smile and dance like good rock ’n’ roll should. Crucially, they don’t strut or scream or whine like those depressing modern blues-rock “garage” bands, they actually sing in a frat style. Originals like ‘Pop Your Cherry’ are short
and basic but catchy and enjoyable. A disappointing cover of ‘Hound Dog’ doesn’t add anything to the original, but the addition of swingin’ instrumentals like ‘Here Comes The Cobra!’ more than make up for it. Phil Suggitt
reawakening of the landscapes and hues that have come to inspire its timelessness. And like all great traditional folk music, his talent for crafting songs (along with his Jansch-like guitar style) lies foremost in the blurring of lines between nature and those who nurture it. Best exemplified here on ‘Holly Blue’ and opener ‘Aubade’, where he sings of times shared through picturesque verses and passing sentiments, which open the floodgates on warm Robert Kirby lilts from The Mavron Quartet. That Tethered For The Storm also pairs
Bonello polar-perfectly with the likes of Lisa Jên of 9Bach and Cate Le Bon on the captivating ‘Colled’ makes this a record as moving as it is mesmeric. Without question, a talent worth talking about. Richard S Jones
THE HIGH DIALS Anthems For Doomed Youth Rainbow Quartz CD
www.rainbowquartz.com
Modern day powerpop bands are basically going to sink or swim on the quality of their songwriting and not much else. They can
all play fairly well, they all know their way around an “oo-ooo” background harmony, and they all (finally!) know which guitars to use. The problem is simply that too much
sugar isn’t good for you. I still recall my first experience with Tommy Keene’s Songs From The Film in the mid-80s. Each song was better than the last one, and yet, before side one was finished, I had that all-too- familiar “oof-I’ve-eaten-too-many-jelly- beans” feeling. And to really enjoy anything on side two, I had to start on side two. There were just too many sweeties. Even on an LP that contained a cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Kill Your Sons’! Somehow The High Dials continue to
avoid this pitfall. I don’t know how they do it. Since their early three-piece days as The Datsons, Trevor Anderson and his Canadian cohorts have been churning out album after album of lovely paisley sundrops. And this one is no exception. I do miss longtime bassist Rishi Dhir (who nowadays has his own very lovely band, Elephant Stone) but The High Dials are still great without him. Mike Fornatale
THE INSOMNIACS Just Enjoy It Screaming Apple LP/CD
www.screaming-apple-records.de The cover art here implies a typically self- obsessed, cock-rock, living in the moment bunch of no-good mic trashers. Something of
a mismatch with what’s contained in the grooves then, as American trio of brothers The Insomniacs make a
very pleasing sound – powerpop, garage, almost pure pop at times. The nearest this clean-looking group (on
the back cover) come to the initial idiom is in closer ‘Amelia’, which rocks out very nicely indeed and could easily have been cut by The Swingin’ Neck Breakers. However, the other 13 tracks sound more considered and, to these ears, remind me most readily of ’80s power poppers The Explosives, which is great.
Guitars chime and ring more than fuzz
and crackle, and there’s a lot of melody. So for all real pop fans out there, ignore the sleeve – the grooves are sweet. Paul Martin
MONKEY ISLAND Luxe Et Redux Imprint CD
www.monkeyislanduk.com
Sixteen tracks of rambunctious blues and art-punk attitude, Luxe Et Redux draws on one hell of an eclectic gene pool of
influences. The odd sing-a-long-a-shanty mingles incongruously with dirty blues harp licks and nuggets of heavy metal – ‘Muttermilch’ is the demon spawn of Black Sabbath’s ‘The Wizard’, whilst ‘Back To The Stoneage’ is strictly Captain Beefheart. Elsewhere, with echoes of The Very Things,
Cravats and Gang Of Four, it’s the discordant angular guitar riffs that typify Monkey Island’s predominantly ’80s post-punk sound. There’s some seriously jagged punk thrashing on songs like ‘C12 H18’ and ‘Your Views Have Been Noted’. With over half the songs clocking in at
less than two minutes though you don’t have time to be distracted from the immediacy of Luxe Et Redux, but if it doesn’t grab you by the balls on first listening it won’t be long before it does. Rich Deakin
JESSE MCREYNOLDS & FRIENDS Songs Of The Grateful Dead Woodstock CD
www.woodstockrecords.com Jesse McReynolds, the surviving brother of the famed Jim & Jesse bluegrass duo, also answers to “Mr Mandolin” due to his perfection of an original cross-picking and split-string technique that allows the rapid-
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