1. Catatonic Youth – Piss Scene 7" (HoZac Records): A scaberous three-track debut with fuzzed-out vocals, chunky basslines, garage guitar and weird noises to boot! This underground band pressed 500 copies of their single and sold out already; pressure them to make more! I am always attracted to boredom lyrics like "Nothing in this town nothing in this town nothing in this town." The best rock n' roll lyrics are 100% indispensable and 100% throwaway garbage at the same time.
2. Pierced Arrows – In My Brain/Caroline 7" (Tombstone): The latest from ex-Dead Moon husband-and-wife duo with a different drummer still unrelentlessly encourages everyone and their sister to start a band with lo-fi rock n' roll voodoo magic. Fred Cole has been putting out records since 1964 or so, making him the only figure from the '60s garage rock scene to hear punk rock, understand it and do his own thing with it.
3. The Hospitals – Hairdryer Peace (self-released): The Hospitals' second record combines sheer noise and cacophony with echoey vocals that are run through more processors than I'd like to think about. Not immediately accessible (but not snobby either), The Hospitals bash out their version of rock n' roll like a post-apocalyptic mutant stepchild of the future throwing a shitfit, but somehow taking the time to ask some questions at the same time. Not looking back, Hairdryer Peace formally picks up the unenviable task of destroying music left over from their last record. A little more cohesively this time, I might add.
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2008.