Teengenerate
Get Action!

"Get Action!" is one of those records that you just need to hold in your hand to already know how it sounds. Just observe with a certain disgust the horrible cover - which might remind you of a poster for one of those horrible C-grade Japanese splatter films - and read the name of the band, which brazenly cites a song by the Dictators, the most gaudy and brash punk'n'roll band in history. Now, turn the case around: knowing that these four crazies hail from Japan (the land of the grotesque) and were produced by Crypt Records - one of the main proponents of the Nineties punk-revival that boasted protégés like Oblivians, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and New Bomb Turks - will complete your picture. Don't strain your tired minds, I'll tell you. The Teengenerate from Tokyo are friggin' awesome. Because two plus two still makes four in this damn world.

These four loons don't even try to disappoint expectations. "Get Action!" ('94) is nothing more than a concentrate - as dense as mud - of the most violent and troglodyte garage-punk. The formula of 1-2-3-go! is pillaged from the Ramone brothers and thrown into a maelstrom of crude and hasty guitar fury. Seventeen quickies (including the standout cover of "Shake, Rattle & Roll") that will remind you, besides the closeness on the map, of the wonderful Australian garage bands growing like mushrooms in the autumn between the Seventies and Eighties, so far from the calligraphic calculations of their American colleagues. So, between a dance to the rhythm of the mindless surf of "Dressed in Black", a relentless jig caused by the raped rhythm & blues - which, with three chords, reconciles the two souls of Chuck Berry and Link Wray - of "Something You Got", a hide-and-seek game between two voices competing to be the most raucous ("Don't Leave Me") and among the general astonishment of "Mess Me Up", after which it will seem like the Sonics have been reincarnated into four yellow-faced guys speaking poor English, this chaotic bacchanal unfolds. The best vintage Irish whiskey might not have been served, but sometimes you have to understand that someone is always needed who, rather than leaving completely intact our certainties, slams them in front of our eyes with all the malice and determination possible.

Rock is not (only) novelty, thank God. Sometimes you just need to move your ass. The formula from Tokyo's Teengenerate, at first glance stale for years, is more alive than ever because it will make you move it big time... And make peace with yourself. After, if you want to repay these four crazies of the Rising Sun, even giving them the most expensive peaty whisky in the world won't be enough. Guaranteed!