More weird, wacky fun from this Texas band. It’s psychedelic carnival music. Sounding like Gibby Haynes singing along to the merry-go-round. It could easily get annoying if it wasn’t so amusing.
Collection of songs from this Texas duo, recorded over a twenty(!!)-year span. I don’t know how to accurately describe this—the closest reference points would be circus or carnival music with post-punk vocals. Imagine the weirdness of the MYSTIC KNIGHTS OF THE OINGO BOINGO with the delayed and pitch-shifted vocals of vintage WEEN. Opening track “Hyperbole” is a good introduction to the organ-grinding surrealness. “Either Way” has a slight MADNESS ska beat with backing vocals, swirling noise, and bicycle bells. “Texas Trip” takes us into satirical cowpunk territory. What’s surprising is how well-composed and carefully constructed these tracks are. This is not low-effort experimentation; it is very odd and inspired creativity. True story: I fell asleep while listening to this (from my own circumstances, it’s not boring or anything), and I had strange-ass dreams. If you want to sample some unique and playful avant-garde music, click on over to their Bandcamp.
And the prize for worst band name goes to…ATTIC TED. Look, I was primed to really dislike this album. It doesn’t look like something I’d want to listen to. The name of the album is Starfish as Man, for chrissake! To my reluctant surprise, it’s not a bad needle drop after all. ATTIC TED has made a pretty charming post-punk record in the vein of ALTERNATIVE, MAGAZINE, or SUBWAY SECT, with some kraut-y avant garde elements pushing the affair towards the experimental end of the spectrum. Starfish as Man is sprinkled with spacey synthesizers and atmospheric, at times operatic vocal melodies. I presume that these folks have taken plenty of drugs to make music to take drugs to…or however it was that SPACEMEN 3 phrased it. Despite my negative predisposition, ATTIC TED has concocted a substantial freak-pop album that I can’t deny has a disturbingly catchy appeal.
Angular, dissonant, blip-bloops of no wave weirdness. Really fun, weird, artsy kookiness. BLOTCHOUTS from Mobile, Alabama bring us twelve songs on this newest release of theirs including a truly bizarre cover of JOHNNY THUNDERS “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory.” Much of this tape is too weird and long for me, but in the moments they lock into some driving grooves it is super cool. The band seems to have a ton of other releases so if this kinda thing is for you, you’ve got a lot of new tunes to check out.
Like an unearthed ’80s college rock reject, Texas mutant/s KAY ODYSSEY are to CONCRETE BLONDE what GIRLS AT OUR BEST are to R.E.M. Instantly familiar and totally weird—and you think the tweak is in the vocals, but there’s a thing that they do with late ’80s late night radio rock that hits just fucking right. If you’re still reading this and you can sing the chorus to LONE JUSTICE’s “Ways to Be Wicked” then KAY ODYSSEY is right up your alley. And if you don’t know that song…well, there’s an internet for a reason.
