pretazzo

uhuh the 80's… the most underrated decade of all time! The most misunderstood, I’d say: perhaps it was the moment in History (not just musical) when the gap between "mainstream" and "alternative" was at its widest: we went from the silliest electronic pop to the most unlistenable noise! The problem is that, despite the flourishing of the internet in recent years, most people are still convinced the 80s were just crap… From a historical-political-social perspective, practically everything changed in the span of a decade, both East and West: the balances (?) of the Cold War turned upside down! Great review, Armani Jeans Milano (:-P) And I quote comment number 7! (I can hardly imagine a more crummy era than ours, internet aside… internet that, perhaps, is fatally an involuntary co-cause of the crappiness of our times). In the meantime, I also say hi to MAH!, whom I haven't seen in a while and who, for a moment, toward the end of 2007, was the uncontested king of the temporary De-Chat (the one with the emoticons)…

and you did it well, I must say ;-) so much so that we could label this whole bunch (Cramps, Mars, DNA, early Sonic Youth... right up to Pussy Galore, HK, Unsane, RTX) as representatives of a phantom "NY noise" (even though Pussy Galore originated from DC)... with all the necessary distinctions, since these bands had different ways of "making noise," some more instinctive, some more programmatic, some closer to rock/blues tradition, some more abstract...

Yes, but Unsane were much more serious: I’ve always seen them as a pedantic version of Steve Albini and I never liked them... bands like Pussy Galore (and offspring) or the Honeymoon Killers had a more grotesque and amused attitude (even though Spencer, Hagerty, Julia Cafritz, and Bob Bert stood out for a very rigorous, almost scientific approach to reinterpreting blues-rock... see also what Hagerty would do with RTX)... regarding the sources of this noise-blues (or nois'a'billy, in the case of the HK), we can mention the usual Beefheart, Cramps, Birthday Party, all seminal artists, to say the least...

It's true! They debuted with Glass and never recorded with Postcard! I got confused by the nationality of the Pastels and automatically thought: Scotland = Postcard (in reality, Postcard was active during the new wave era, so in the early 80s).

Alright, you've convinced me: Hung Far Low is no longer enough... I have to complete the discography of these criminals! :-)

AJM (by the way, what does it stand for? Armani Jeans Milano? :-)), you graduated the same month and year as I did... I remember it was incredibly hot... my teachers were a mix of cool ones (role models) and some really awful ones... their characteristics were decisive for the mood of the class: in fact, the first two years were fantastic because we had some amazing teachers, while the last three years were a bit less enjoyable because they replaced them with less amusing ones... but hey: can you even compare being 15 with being 18? There’s no comparison!

A typical 90s alt(post)-rock record: introspective, restrained and stifled emotions, few words. A must for genre fans, mediocre for others...

Fester please come back! This album is cheerful, smiling anarchy, a bit like watching Giardini in Autunno by Iosseliani: just Trickle Down and Snorry Mouth are enough to screw commitments and responsibilities and roam with a free mind and the wind on your face!

Thanks for the visits! @popolo: I know a little about Sarah Records from Bristol, but I imagine the musical proposal...in any case, I mentioned the Pastels from the legendary Postcard, the Scottish indie-pop label...@soul: haha, one of the rare times Brazil went out on penalties! :-) @bartle: the nice thing about the Bats is that, despite the obvious debts to certain VU (especially Reed's guitar but also some persistent rhythms), they always sound bland, never exciting: that’s their charm...hello everyone! ;-)

And instead, I really feel the Lizard vibes in this album, even more than FNM... Denison's guitar is still the same... Anyway, it’s true that the value of a band isn't always equal to the sum of its parts... and that supergroups can flop not just in prog... in short, I don't think this album is a complete failure... the musicians' craftsmanship is unquestionable, but none of these tracks manage to engage me as much as the best FNM or Lizard... basically, it was supposed to be an eccentric and explosive album, but instead, it’s neither eccentric (except for a couple of "scribbled" tracks) nor explosive (or at least not more or better than many other bands)... what a shame :-/