Since we're on the subject of art-rock and lo-fi recordings, here's this beautiful album for the #buzz showcase, devoted to and rightly drawing on the wise suggestions of @ALFAMA.

Officer! - Dead Unique (Blackest Ever Black, April 21, 2014)

We're once again faced with another worthy retrieval work that recaptures a piece of music history from the nineties that, for various reasons, had never seen the light before 2014. "Dead Unique" is an album recorded in 1995 between Baltimore in the USA and London (UK) by Officer!, a project put together by Mick Hobbs, a London-based musician active since the late '70s and involved in various projects like Work, Lowest Note, Lo Yo Yo, and Momes, in addition to his work with This Heat and especially for his friendship with Jad Fair and collaborations in the Half Japanese scene. The conceptual and visionary closeness to Jad Fair (one of the many guests on the album, which revolves around Mick Hobbs) is evident in the various songs of the album (18 in total!) that combine art rock and garage music with UK-inspired psychedelic pop, referencing Beatles-esque experiences and the sixties. With experiments in jazz music and a minimalist, histrionic use of synthesizers, cabaret setups, horror theater, and distinctly This Heat-esque bass grooves, "Dead Unique" is an unpredictable record, bordering on insanity while also being as listenable as the latest albums from Half Japanese or the more pop releases from Flying Nun Records during their golden years and Elephant 6. If I were you, I wouldn't wait a second to listen to it: I'd dive right in "like a fish."

Officer! Someone At The Door

#halfjapanese #mickhobbs #jadfair