a buttload of KEN ROCK Records releases:
Dots Your Balls 7 Wax Museums Anicent Structures 7 Swinehood - In Bad Shape 7 Swinehood Im A Fuckin Misatrophe 7 Vagina Boys S/t 7 Botox Rats Kick Me Like Trash 7 Disco Lepers The Government Took My Virginity 7 Gut Reactions Yer So Cruel 7 CCCPn Knulla Knulla Knulla 7 + CD
Ken Rock Records
The Ken-man has been busy lately. Swamping me with new releases month after month until the Savage-man had to bow and review them all.. Dots is kind of your typical Ken Rock band, if there is one. Playing in the Hnery Fiats Open Sore vein but they lack some of the finesse and feel. This one packs something like six or seven songs on a single without real labels. Im sure you can find out which song is which though as the lyrics are printed on the backsleeve. I like the Wax Museums a lot more. Great band overall, and this single is a decent addition to their releases. Not their best maybe but pretty great punkrock going on. Swinehood plays superfast, dirty punk/hardcore. Also pretty much a typical Ken Rock band, as the Ken has released four records by them. Not my fave kinda music but they do it great and the music and production appeals to me more than the usual hc-style stuff. Id say they fit in somewhere HFOS and the Brainbombs. Both the Swinehood singles pack a lot of songs on 33 rpm so you get a lot of bang for your buck. Im a fuckin misantrophe has better sound and is cooler. I think they might be moving a little more in the punkrock direction. Still superfast of course. Vagina Boys are okay, but nothing more. Pretty much basic punkrock but it doesnt really catch me. A couple of the songs are cool and all but just pass me by and leave me unaffected. Might grow on me though..The Botox Rats from London are better than most of what the British has to offer these days but they dont reach the heights of say Black Time or the Real Losers. Pretty basic rip off-style/77-punkrock with some hooks. Disco Lepers also hail from London, and like the Rats they dont tickle my liking-nerve too much. Its pretty good but just average. Meanwhile, the Gut Reactions show just how much better the Americans are at punkrock. Packing a punch, reeling and shaking like punkrock should and being trashy jsut for the hell of it. Cool stuff.CCCPn are three local fuck-ups singing songs in Swenglish about fucking, politics and other bandmembers. Its pretty cool, primitive and fun. Most of all its fun though. This might not be something for the international listener as its prolly mostly fun for Swedes. Seven inch comes with a CD with a few more songs. [TS]
Goodnight Loving S/t LP
Wild Honey/Dusty Medical
Havent been overly impressed by the Goodnight Loving but this album put those feelings to shame for sure. Im head over heels for some of the songs right away! Popified folk/country-garage with a nice, wellproduced sound. Should be of interest for fans of Reigning Sound, Mojomatics, Black Lips. Some of the songs have a kind of O Brother Where Art Thou-feel to them, and I mean that in a good way. Some sound like 50s pop, and some like good ol americana. Nice ballads and some more uptempo makes this a thouroughly great labum. I dont dig all the sides of the band as it sometimes get too nice what with choruses and stuff but I do like the whole and some of the songs are fantastic. [TS]