ROUND-UP: SLEAZE
Suicide Bombers Murder Couture
SELF-RELEASED
After an amusingly over-the-top Sigue Sigue Sputnik-esque intro, Oslo’s suicide bombers launch into one of the most consistently rocking albums of the year. With the obvious exception of Mike Monroe, there isn’t another band in operation that manages to capture the sticky sweet glamour, streetwise grit, pinballing teenage sexual energy and gloomy suburban nihilism of Hanoi Rocks better than the Bombers. You can pick your own faves – the infectious title track is particularly easy on the ear, and Madman is an 80s Eurospandex chug-fest that rivals Oz for cheap headbanging thrills – but for me,
I’ve gotta go with the frankly amazing We Don’t Negotiate With Terrorists, both for its glistening Shotgun Messianic riffs and its majestic climactic ode to Johnny Thunders (‘Down to kill! Like a motherfucker!’). This is not a drill, man. This is what you came here for. This is hard-core rock’n’roll for hard-core rock’n’rollers. ■■■■■■■■■■
Big Stick LP
ECHOES AND DUST
Big Stick slithered out of the New York underground in the mid80s, sounding like a staticky FM radio stuck halfway between a Shangri-Las song and a loop of a revving chainsaw. After morphing into the pre-eminent drag racing electropunk band in the 90s, they’ve returned with this collection of crunchy, throbbing rock’n’roll insanity that’s as sexy and destructive as a flaming stock car pile-up. ■■■■■■■■■■
Schizophonics People In The Sky
PIG BABY
Schizophonics are a power trio from San Diego who ostensibly play garage rock. But just imagine that the garage is engulfed in flames and nobody cares. This is party rock if every party ended in multiple homicides. I’m not sure if there’s a more exciting rock’n’roll band in operation right now and if there is then I’m sure my heart couldn’t take it. ■■■■■■■■■■
Mean Jeans Gigantic Sike
FAT
Giving you an idea of what this band sound like is easy: they sound like an eternally teenage Ramones with eternally dumb teenage problems –I Fell Into A Bog, Just A Trim (Don’t Buzz Me, Alright) – and the whole thing is a gasser from start to finish. The minute-and-a-half-long What The Fuck Is Up Tonight might be the greatest rock’n’roll song written this decade. ■■■■■■■■■■
Zodiac Panthers Hexray Vision
SELF-RELEASED
Zodiac Panthers are four furious, leatherbound rockers who sound like Apocalypse Dudes-era Turbonegro stripped down to nothing but sneers, howls and fist-fights. This is back-tobasics, bloodsport rock’n’roll like we made it in the good ol’ days, with spit and cigarette smoke. So primitive you may regress into a caveman before the record’s over. ■■■■■■■■■■