When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout #207!
Plastic Crimewave Sound — Plastic Crimewave Sound (Prophase) :: Against a fuzz-tone wall these dirt bags growl: "I am planet-crushing! Still look like Peter Cushing!" Which I thought was a pretty oblique nod to the '50s Hammer horror hero until I realized that they were making a pretty obvious pun on his '70s Death Star stint. Oh well.
Screaming Lord Sutch — Screaming Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends (Atlantic) :: Better!
AC Newman — Get Guilty (Last Gang) :: Like a harder-edged Donovan backed by a wash of Sgt. Beatlesque mellotrons and a wave of good Wilsonesque vibrations? This one's straight outta 1967 — and it's about time!
Lou Reed — Metal Machine Music (RCA) :: Better!
Lucie Idlout — Swagger (Sun Rev) :: She struts into the room with a sexy cum-wither attitude that smacks of the pop-sodden '70s when stereo guitars wailed and ball-busters like Suzi Quatro and Joan Jett railed.
Neil Young — Arc (Reprise) :: Better!
Fake Problems — It's Great to Be Alive (Side One Dummy) :: This one starts out sounding like Tom Waits fronting the E Street Band, complete with overblown Bat Out of Hell orchestrations, before settling into a big Dictators groove.
Lady June — Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy (Caroline) :: Better!
Blue Hands — Hot Puppies (THP) :: The synth stylings of vintage Gary Numan coupled with an '80s cross of Sandi's Sunsets and Siouxsie's Banshees.
Yoko Ono — Approximate Infinite Universe (Apple) :: Better!
Portico — First Neighbours (Copperspine) :: Primo Portishead-ish pop paeans!
SNIVELING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: These Green Eyes — Relapse to Recovery (Black Ledge) :: More utterly bland and boring predicable soulless teenage angst rock that you've heard done a dozen times before, all of it sounding as if it were formed by the same sonic cookie cutter without a single shred of redeeming human personality. I could name half a dozen albums that are better than this faceless tripe without even trying.
Charles Manson — Lie (self released) :: Well, five out of six ain't bad.
Be seeing you!
