Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate
Cat VS Frog LP
Palindrome 2007
Masami’s continuing riff-saga here receives the live
treatment. For he of Broom Dusters and LSD-March, Side A/Cat surprisingly keeps
the lid on—though this is overall a nice, bright recording. Side B/Frog is
where things start to properly unchain, with some sections sounding like a
private press psych wallet-$layer fed through the last gasps of an ’88 Buick.
But alas, and despite Masami's heartfelt vocals, the wind-up hardly ever ends in pitch. Can’t quite place it, but
there’s a real lurgy feel ‘bout this affair that makes me pine for a hot water
bottle and a copy of Bless the Weather. Yeesh! Still, I’m sure there are
toads scattered about just waiting to carry this home in their craws. Lay on, I
say! Just don’t expect your brains to slosh about like a fortnight’s
chawanmushi by last runout. Nothing doing.
Figures of Light
Smash Hits LP
Norton 2008
Cripes, I feel like a skel just trying to write about this,
let alone having just gripped it. If every time you dial up the latest
proto-punk reissue, it comes with a free eye-roll, this is perhaps the missing
piece you’re actually missing. But, really, this is almost proto-everything.
You get flakes of Devo and the Urinals, but with that wide-open early-70s sense
that this approach (read: beer, pot and volume with occasional police
interludes) really coulda gone anywhere. It will also remind you how many more
hearty suicide endorsement songs we need (“Why Not Knock Yourself Off?”)—and that’s
from the 2007 session! “It’s Lame,” and “I Jes Wanna Go to Bed,” are all-time high
school dropout bangers, full of chewed fingers and stomped bedrooms. This is
also a wonderful chance to remember that Norton really does an A#1 job in the
reissue department, despite their predilection for archival hot rod singles.
Note to self: File in Stooges sleeves, hand out at parties.
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