Darren Jones does it again. A man with a remarkable hitting average and capacity for sniffing out great new releases that have missed my own radar. I knew almost immediately that I was onto a winner here.
American refuseniks are one of my favourite causes You could write an excellent book about them, going back to when The Sonics first strutted onstage in Tacoma, Washington way back in the early Sixties and flipped the bird at mom, dad, the audience and the high school principal.
Since then, write your own list. Stooges, the Nuggets Garage Punks, MC5 and on towards Punk. Pere Ubu, Television, Jad Fair. Obvious suspects like Black Flag and Husker Du. But also more quirky candidates like Camper Van Beethoven, The Colorblind James Experience , Pavement, Lambchop. Silver Jews and onwards to this. My favourite record of today and one of the best I've heard all year, in any category.
A record predicated on primitive Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Velvet Underground riffs and the kind of attitude that fuelled Stiff Records in the Mid Seventies. Each track here is a different kind of joy. A different colour of the rainbow.
Coming out on ever / never records a quirky leftfield New York label that prides itself on 'putting out music for adults.' In their own words 'Workers Comp are doing their best to kick against the pricks.' In the wordsof Alan Freeman 'Not Arf !' All power to their elbows. This is as good as it gets.
Glad you like this! Defiantly scrappy is a vibe I can always get behind, particularly with Velvet Underground riffs. Great stuff. The band features Ryan McKeever from Staffers on drums, and Anna McClellan on one track. She must be due another album soon!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was just terrific. Sometimes you know as soon as you start listening to a record. Brilliant. So much attitude. Cheers.
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