15 complete insane bands plays 15 Outrages earbleading tunes from recent or upcoming albums Flamenco and Blues Trash meets Exotica Space Cumbia and wild Rock’n’Roll Garage Chainsaw Punk Neanderthal Synth
NEW RELEASE PICK: V/A, Voodoo Rhythm Label Compilation Vol. 5 (Voodoo Rhythm) This Swiss label is run by Beat Zeller, aka The Beat-Man, aka The Reverend Beat-Man, aka a beautifully twisted cat if ever one was (though we’ve never met). Burrowing into a stylistic zone that’s not far from the great Billy Childish, except it’s swampier and more bluesy (and with flashes of strangeness that are almost Beefheartian), The Beat-Man has been cranking out steaming hot hunks of rant and distortion since the 1980s, with the Voodoo Rhythm label commencing operations in 1992 to document his own prolificacy plus records by those of a similar temperament. The discography now runs well into the hundreds. As I’ve only been soaking up Voodoo Rhythm’s wares for the last 5-6 years, I haven’t heard it all, but it’s still been long enough to have gotten acquainted with a sizable percentage of what’s on this comp. Chances are you haven’t, so let’s give it a rundown.

Right up front, there’s the garage-punk stomp of the Beat-Man’s band The Monsters, followed by the drum-box punk thud of the Bad Mojos, and then some trash dumpster Troggs action from Destination Lonely. There’s the reverb drenched punk-blues throb of Sloks, a zonked busker-billy Venom cover by Rev. Beat-Man and Izobel Garcia, the demented retro-pop of Garcia’s own track, and then a strong dose of Chess Records-inspired punk pound by Trixie and the Trainwrecks. And with the Tom Waits vibes of Degurutieni, things get even more interesting. There’s the decidedly KBD-like track by Nestter Donuts, an ode to well-lubed onanism by Sex Organs, the acid-bent Gibson Bros. fumes of Roy and the Devil’s Motorcycle, a fuzz-punk rave-up by The Devils, the twisted trio chug of E.T. Explore Me, the moody, dare I say goth blues of Honshu Wolves, and a Jimbo Mathus-like closer by The Dead Brothers. And it’s all grooved into a picture disc. My normal reaction to picture discs is to stick those fuckers on the roof, but this one looks pretty cool. It sounds even better.