Reviews

Savage

Benni Diamond Man / Heavy Metals 7″

BENΝI is Ben McCullough from WIZZARD SLEEVE, NATURAL CHILD, and HEAVY LIDS. He plays the synthesizer in a rollicking tribute to KRAFTWERK. I enjoyed listening to this on repeat while walking the still-empty streets of San Francisco, taking in the post-apocalypticness of the first anniversary of the pandemic. It’s just the right soundtrack. On the cover, BENΝI is wearing a chainmail hood and black sleeveless shirt, looking like an extra from a Monty Python film. That juxtaposition is just another part of the fun.

Eugh The Most Brilliant Man Alive EP

This seven-track debut from Melbourne synth project EUGH (which is Vincent Buchanan-Simpson from KITCHEN PEOPLE) gets off to a strong start. “Junk Shop” is a perfect egg-punk/DEVO-core track—it’s tight and jerky in all the right places and weird and loose everywhere else, seemingly taking inspiration from one of the more underappreciated Mark Winter projects, HAIRLONG N FREEKY. Just fantastic stuff! Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there. “Galactic Terror” is a harsh electropunk track Á  la TERROR VISIONS that would be cool were it not for its overly woozy production, which turns the track into a big noisy mess by the end. The rest of the EP either sounds like rote NWI worship or DEVO at their new-waviest fronted by GARY NUMAN at his poppiest. Still, as grating as most of this record is, it’s probably worth picking up for that opening track.

Sweet Knives Spritzerita LP

Alicja Trout and Rich Crook, former members of the LOST SOUNDS, reformed a few years ago with John Garland and Jon Grissom, to bring us SWEET KNIVES. Spritzerita is the second LP from this Memphis group, and six months after its release, it’s already sold out! Without Jay Reatard’s vocal obscurity and with less reliance on synth, SWEET KNIVES is much more garage-y than LOST SOUNDS. Alicja’s delicate vocals, heard at their softest on the closer “Fruitcake”—a clean, acoustic, upbeat song—dance over the other full-speed slammer tracks, as in the opener “Blockin the Lanes.” This deserves your attention.