Pampers - Right Tonight 7'' (In The Red, 2014)

Pampers
Right Tonight 7''
In The Red
2014

Rating: 8 empty pee jars out of 10

I'm not sure if I love or hate that this band named themselves Pampers, it's so goddamn stupid it might actually work.  One thing I do know is the title track from this seven inch, "Right Tonight," is one of the most instantly catchy songs I've heard in quite a while.  I want to listen to it on repeat again and again and again.  The other three songs are great too, but goddamn that first track, it's like the good kind of kick to the nuts.  Not sure exactly how I would describe their sound - like a distorted, scuzzy Hot Snakes crossed with A-Frames maybe.  It works, it really works. 

Fuzz - Sunderberry Dream 7'' (In the Red, 2013)

Fuzz
Sunderberry Dream 7''
In the Red
2013

Rating: 7.5 soggy fries out of 10

Fuzz, Ty Segall, yada yada yada...y'all know the back story of this band.  The title track here is great and all but the real story is the B-side, a cover of the King Crimson song "21st Century Schizoid Man."  Holy shit this track just burned my eardrums from the inside out!  It's pummellingly sludgy and heavy in all the right ways, like a hammer to the head of a compulsive drunkard you find in a dark alley.  Did I say too much?  I've honestly never paid any attention to King Crimson, thinking they were just one of those prog bands that the weird smelly guys who enjoy role playing games like, but this has me rethinking not only my stance on that band but life as a whole. I really don't want to go to any special stores to buy dice with more than six sides. 

Fuzz - Fuzz (In The Red, 2013)

Fuzz
Fuzz
In The Red
2013

Rating: 8 credible witnesses out of 10

Given that this was on of my favorite records of the year in 2013, I was surprised I hadn't written one of my trademark shitty reviews of this self-titled Fuzz record yet. Has there ever been a more fitting name for a band?  The music is heavy and very, well, fuzzy.  In case you don't know this is yet another project from Ty Segall, and where the dude finds the time, energy or imagination to create so much music is completely beyond me.  Especially when it's good quality - hell, I could write a thousand terrible songs, but the dude seems to have struck musician's gold or was granted wishes from a genie or something.  In this band Segall plays drums and sings, and is joined by Charlie Mootheart and Roland Cosio to create this heavy rock bastard child that sounds like a mashup of James Gang and Black Sabbath.  It's a combination that really, really works.  And while not related to the album review, live they're just as good and highly recommended. 

Cheap Time - Exit Smiles (In The Red, 2013)

Cheap Time
Exit Smiles
In The Red
2013

Rating: 8 code words out of 10

I think I had written off Cheap Time as just another Tennessee garage punk act, which is totally cool in my book, but there is a lot more going on here in "Exit Smiles."  I'm not sure if I was wrong about their earlier music or there was a significant change leading into this album, but I'm getting a really heavy seventies vibe off of this.  Definitely a lot of Bowie, Stiv Bators for sure, some T-Rex, and on a couple of songs, Television.  Apparently they really sound like the Saints, a band I've somehow managed not to know much about for reasons I'm not entirely clear on.  Hell, I should have known something wasn't typical here when I saw the length was over half an hour but there was only eight songs - any normal garage punk band would play eight songs in the span of fifteen minutes, twenty tops.  This record is going to reward multiple listens, I can already tell. 

Oblivians - Desperation (In The Red, 2013)

Oblivians
Desperation
In The Red
2013

Rating: 7 gray lobsters out of 10

Despite being an old man that should have been following the Oblivians from the start, I actually worked my way back to them from the fantastic Reigning Sound (both groups feature the fantastic Greg Cartwright or Greg Oblivian as he is known with this group).  "Desperation" marks their first record in over fifteen years, but you'd never know it from listening to the album.  Well, it is a little cleaner and better produced, and the entire group are better musicians than before - I suppose this can be seen as a positive or a negative depending on how dirty you like your garage punk.  All I know is this thing sounds great from start to finish for me, especially when Greg is the singer.  It won me over right quick and stands up to repeated listens.

Tyvek - On Triple Beams (In The Red, 2012)

Tyvek
On Triple Beams
In The Red
2012

Rating: 7.5 new pairs of shoes out of 10

Detroit's Tyvek is the closest thing we have these days to A-Frames cold, calculated repetitive punk.  They've been releasing records at nearly a Ty Segall-like rate, and I've been eating it up.  Their music is dark and moody and has a sneer to it that you don't hear much these days.  You can of course make the usual touchstones of Gang of Four and Wire that you can with all of Tyvek's music, but this time around the band...sounds pretty much exactly as they did on their previous records.  Which makes me happy, because it's a bitchin' sound. 

Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse (In The Red, 2012)

Ty Segall Band
Slaughterhouse
In The Red
2012

Rating: 7.5 jello shots out of 10

I've completely given up on trying to keep up with all of the Ty Segall releases...his transformation into the garage pop version of Robert Pollard is seemingly complete.  But there is something a little different with "Slaughterhouse" - this record is credited to "Ty Segall Band," denoting a slight difference from his typical output over the last couple of years.  He apparently made this album with his touring band, and where the bulk of his recent material is a little more straight-forward pop, this is a guitar-heavy garage rock showdown.  It has a great raw/Memphis/Goner feel, like a record the kids of the Oblivians might make, with a heavy dose of dirty Detroit rock leanings (MC5, Stooges et al).  The album features ten great bursts of maniacal garage, and ten minute closer of noise that doesn't do much for me but maybe some feedback nuts will take pleasure in.  I've been so washed out on Segall releases it would have been easy to ignore this, and maybe his "real" fans will write this off as an anomoly not befitting his current direction, but this is the Segall I wanna hear more about. 

Cheap Time - Wallpaper Music (In The Red, 2012)

Cheap Time

Wallpaper Music

In The Red

2012

Rating: 6 wall safes out of 10

I didn't even realize Cheap Time was started by the front dude of the Rat Traps, Jeffrey Novak.  I saw the Rat Traps once years ago, they were pretty damn awesome live.  Never did hear any of their proper recordings though.  That has nothing to do with reviewing this record, I just felt like mentioning it.  

"Wallpaper Music" is the third record by this Tennessee trio, and I feel the same about it as I have about everything else I've heard by Cheap Time...it's pretty good.  Not good enough to go nuts over, and definitely not bad enough to make fun of, just...decent.  A lot garage punk with occasional moments of glam and psychedelic leanings, let's call them the combination of the Oblivians and some of Iggy Pop's early solo work and leave it at that.  

I want to like this more...it has the necessary ingredients.  And if they come to town I definitely want to see them live, as I bet that's a good show.  Maybe seeing them live will re-invigorate me into getting more excited over this record.  

Mark Sultan - Whatever I Want / Whenever I Want (In The Red, 2011)

Mark Sultan

Whatever I Want / Whenever I Want

In The Red

2011

Rating: 6.5 fortified wine coolers out of 10

Mark Sultan kinda went nuts recording last year, and as a result released a pair of albums and then a CD compilation of these two albums ("Whatever/Whenever") that selects, well, someones favorite tracks from the two records.  His attempt to become the garage rock version of Robert Pollard is yielding similar results though, with tight tracks mixed in with some filler (or at least songs that seem like they need a little more work to be finished).  My favorite songs of his are when he lets his doo-wop voice shine, and not a lot of these tracks to be found on either album.  Plenty of foot stompers though, a little weird experimentation, and a lot of prototypical garage rock.  He had help from members of the Spits, the Black Lips and the Gories, so the pedigree is certainly there.  His BBQ album "Tie Your Noose" remains not only his persona high water mark but one of the best records of the genre, and because of that I'll always give anything the man records a listen.  Sometimes you can get too much of a good thing though.  

TV Ghost - Mass Dream (In The Red, 2011)

TV Ghost
Mass Dream
In The Red
2011

Rating: 6 episodes of "Viva Laughlin" out of 10

If I read a description of a band as being a mix of Pere Ubu, Rites of Spring and the Doors, I don't know whether I'd run and hide or shriek with excitement like a small child. But that's pretty much the best description I've come up with for TV Ghost, a quartet of musicians out of Lafayette, Indiana who may or may not need psychological help. Perhaps a more modern comparison would be a more damaged version of the A Frames, a person favorite of mine. Nearly all of the songs have a very nervous, anxious feeling to them...you're not putting this on and taking a little nap on the couch. It's the sort of music that sounds great if you're in the right mood, but catch you off guard and you might be cursing it's very existence.

I'm not sure I love this record, but I'm very intrigued by it. And I'm not sure this is an album that opens itself up after just a few listens...it might take a while.

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl (In The Red, 2009)

The King Khan & BBQ Show
Invisible Girl
In The Red
2009

Rating: 6 Canadian turbans out of 10

As much as I love King Khan, BBQ, and the King Khan & BBQ Show, this is not their best effort. And I think I blame King Khan mostly - his barely contained insanity seems to completely overwhelm most of the songs outside of "I'll Be Loving You". Either that or there just aren't enough songs where BBQ is allowed to let his outstanding voice shine. Still, even a mediocre album by this duo is worth checking out. "Lonely Boy" is a nice butt-shakin' rocker and "Animal Party" is a goof but pretty fun; but I'm perfectly fine with never hearing "Tastebuds" again...I'm no prude but a song about taste buds on your penis is just...gross.

Lamps - Lamps (In The Red, 2005)

Lamps
Lamps
In The Red
2005

Rating: 5 halogen bulbs out of 10

My first thought is that this is not your typical release for In the Red – something about the “power trio” Lamps is much, much too dirty and seedy to fit in with the typical garage rock fare that this label provides. I can’t say that they are anything great, but certainly get bonus points for making me feel like I need to bath after listening to their album. I would imagine this would go over well with the folks who follow No Doctors and The Coachwhips and all that.

Mystery Girls - Something in the Water (In The Red, 2004)

Mystery Girls
Something in the Water
In The Red
2004 

Rating: 5 pocket radios out of 10
 
The Mystery Girls are pretty straight-forward, un-offensive run-of-the-mill modern garage music; not bad, not good, just there.  They probably put on an enjoyable show, and I’m sure plenty of ladies come out when they play because they seem like handsome fellas from their photos on the front of the CD. So that’s something, I guess: go to their shows cause there might be some hot chicks there. Otherwise, you could do better or worse in the genre I suppose. 

Mystery Girls - Circles in the Sand 7" (In The Red, 2003)

Mystery Girls
Circles in the Sand 7"
In The Red
2003


Rating: 5.5 glasses of Chablis out of 10
 
Oh boy, I can’t stand the excitement, it’s more garage rock. Nothing special here, decent enough rock tunes that are an obvious throwback to that now popular era of music. I will certainly give the Mystery Girls credit, for their age they certainly show promise (I understand that everyone in the band either just graduated high school or are still in it). By the time they hit drinking age, they might just kick everyone in the nuts with some kick ass rock and roll tunes.