With
the exception of the ‘Spasms in the New Age’ album, ‘Erectospective’ contains
just about everything ever recorded by Kent, Ohio’s Kill the Hippies up to the
present. Two discs spanning 12 years with 77 total songs. Talk about a lot to
digest. Fortunately, though, the vast majority of the material on these two
discs is really good. You can definitely hear the evolution of the band. The
earliest material has a fairly typical late eighties punk sound, but even on
this stuff you can hear some of the quirkiness that would come to the forefront
by 1998 or so. Just about everything from that point on I enjoyed a lot. The
primitive riffs give way to a more unique songwriting style, and
guitarist/vocalist Mort Treehorne seems to really find his voice both literally
and as a guitar player. Bassist/vocalist P.P. Envy’s voice is just as important
to the band, though. She’s got a great punk rock screech that could peel paint
off the walls, a vocal style that fits the frenetic musical assault perfectly.
I’m guessing the band’s primary influences include Devo, Dead Kennedys, The
Crucifux, and probably Kent’s Sockeye, but the end result is all Kill the
Hippies. The band may have tried to come up with the most generic sounding punk
rock name for themselves, but the music is anything but generic. Too many good
tracks to list ‘em all, but I especially like “Dildo”, “Butcher King”, “Flags
and Gas”, “Skull Fighter”, and “My Pussy’s Gonna’ Make You Hot, My Cock is Gonna’
Drive You Crazy”. Just buy this already, okay? (Bob Ignizio)
Brent
Kirby and his band, the Flashing 12's, play some good old Americana tunes.
Similar to Uncle Tupelo, or a young Wilco, Kirby even has a similar voice to
Jeff Tweedy. The musicianship is solid, and the recording quality is superb. The
songs are well written and well executed. Songs like "Girl I Love" and "South
Side Standing" have a Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams feel to them, and I think that may
be the only real problem with this group. They borrow a lot from other bands.
This may not be on purpose, but there are a lot of bands doing this music right
now, and they all sound a lot like the people who fronted the movement. If you
like all the bands I mentioned in this review, then do check this out, but if
you are looking for something new, look elsewhere. (Eddie Fleisher)
Ani Kyd – ‘Evil Needs Candy Too’
(Alternative Tentacles)
I was
kind of expecting something gothy based on the cover of this disc which shows
Ms. Kyd dressed in black with a Betty Page haircut and a couple of severed heads
in her mitts. There’s a touch of that, but mostly this is some good soulful
hard rock rooted in metal bands like Black Sabbath and some of the noisy rock
bands of the early nineties like Helmet and Jesus Lizard. But ‘Evil Needs Candy
Too’ incorporates other influences as well, like the surf/rockabilly flavor on
“Creepy Feeling” and the bluesy slide guitar on “Six California Dollars”. Most
of the songs are heavy mid tempo numbers like the excellent “Taste My Lips”, but
drummer Gene Hoaglan gets to remind people that he used to play with Dark Angel
on the thrashing first half of “My First Kill”, my personal favorite track on
here. “Thirteen” is another track I particularly enjoyed, an energetic number
with a seventies hard rock vibe. Of the slower tunes, I probably liked “Erase”
and the violin and cello flavored “So Far” the best. The playing is solid
throughout and there are some good riffs, but the main focus is on Ani’s deep,
rich voice. It’s all above average with a few real standouts and no outright
clunkers. The acoustic ballad that closes the disc feels somewhat out of place,
but it’s not a bad song. I’d have liked some lead guitar and a few less slow
tunes, but that’s more personal taste than anything wrong with the album.
Definitely worth checking out for fans of dark heavy rock. I suppose I should
also note thta this was produced by Jello Biafra. (Bob Ignizio)
I liked these
guys on their split CD with Satan’s Teardrops from last year, and I like this
full length release even more. There’s plenty of rockabilly/psychobilly bands
who can play really well, but not nearly enough with distinctive vocalists and
really strong material. The Hucklebucks are one of the few who deliver on all
fronts. “Hillbilly Throwdown” and “Doghouse Blues” are my faves, but there’s
nothing on here I’d want to skip over. I guess I’d rather hear a couple more
originals in place of the two covers on here (“21 Days in Jail” and “Railroad
Bill”), but that’s just nitpicking. The Hucklebucks are from Pittsburgh, but
since I don’t give a rat’s ass about sports that doesn’t bother me in the
least. Rockabilly fans get your credit cards out and head over to the Rock &
Roll Purgatory website to order this. (Bob Ignizio)
With
the exception of the ‘Spasms in the New Age’ album, ‘Erectospective’ contains
just about everything ever recorded by Kent, Ohio’s Kill the Hippies up to the
present. Two discs spanning 12 years with 77 total songs. Talk about a lot to
digest. Fortunately, though, the vast majority of the material on these two
discs is really good. You can definitely hear the evolution of the band. The
earliest material has a fairly typical late eighties punk sound, but even on
this stuff you can hear some of the quirkiness that would come to the forefront
by 1998 or so. Just about everything from that point on I enjoyed a lot. The
primitive riffs give way to a more unique songwriting style, and
guitarist/vocalist Mort Treehorne seems to really find his voice both literally
and as a guitar player. Bassist/vocalist P.P. Envy’s voice is just as important
to the band, though. She’s got a great punk rock screech that could peel paint
off the walls, a vocal style that fits the frenetic musical assault perfectly.
I’m guessing the band’s primary influences include Devo, Dead Kennedys, The
Crucifux, and probably Kent’s Sockeye, but the end result is all Kill the
Hippies. The band may have tried to come up with the most generic sounding punk
rock name for themselves, but the music is anything but generic. Too many good
tracks to list ‘em all, but I especially like “Dildo”, “Butcher King”, “Flags
and Gas”, “Skull Fighter”, and “My Pussy’s Gonna’ Make You Hot, My Cock is Gonna’
Drive You Crazy”. Just buy this already, okay? (Bob Ignizio)
Brent
Kirby and his band, the Flashing 12's, play some good old Americana tunes.
Similar to Uncle Tupelo, or a young Wilco, Kirby even has a similar voice to
Jeff Tweedy. The musicianship is solid, and the recording quality is superb. The
songs are well written and well executed. Songs like "Girl I Love" and "South
Side Standing" have a Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams feel to them, and I think that may
be the only real problem with this group. They borrow a lot from other bands.
This may not be on purpose, but there are a lot of bands doing this music right
now, and they all sound a lot like the people who fronted the movement. If you
like all the bands I mentioned in this review, then do check this out, but if
you are looking for something new, look elsewhere. (Eddie Fleisher)
I was
kind of expecting something gothy based on the cover of this disc which shows
Ms. Kyd dressed in black with a Betty Page haircut and a couple of severed heads
in her mitts. There’s a touch of that, but mostly this is some good soulful
hard rock rooted in metal bands like Black Sabbath and some of the noisy rock
bands of the early nineties like Helmet and Jesus Lizard. But ‘Evil Needs Candy
Too’ incorporates other influences as well, like the surf/rockabilly flavor on
“Creepy Feeling” and the bluesy slide guitar on “Six California Dollars”. Most
of the songs are heavy mid tempo numbers like the excellent “Taste My Lips”, but
drummer Gene Hoaglan gets to remind people that he used to play with Dark Angel
on the thrashing first half of “My First Kill”, my personal favorite track on
here. “Thirteen” is another track I particularly enjoyed, an energetic number
with a seventies hard rock vibe. Of the slower tunes, I probably liked “Erase”
and the violin and cello flavored “So Far” the best. The playing is solid
throughout and there are some good riffs, but the main focus is on Ani’s deep,
rich voice. It’s all above average with a few real standouts and no outright
clunkers. The acoustic ballad that closes the disc feels somewhat out of place,
but it’s not a bad song. I’d have liked some lead guitar and a few less slow
tunes, but that’s more personal taste than anything wrong with the album.
Definitely worth checking out for fans of dark heavy rock. I suppose I should
also note thta this was produced by Jello Biafra. (Bob Ignizio)
I liked these
guys on their split CD with Satan’s Teardrops from last year, and I like this
full length release even more. There’s plenty of rockabilly/psychobilly bands
who can play really well, but not nearly enough with distinctive vocalists and
really strong material. The Hucklebucks are one of the few who deliver on all
fronts. “Hillbilly Throwdown” and “Doghouse Blues” are my faves, but there’s
nothing on here I’d want to skip over. I guess I’d rather hear a couple more
originals in place of the two covers on here (“21 Days in Jail” and “Railroad
Bill”), but that’s just nitpicking. The Hucklebucks are from Pittsburgh, but
since I don’t give a rat’s ass about sports that doesn’t bother me in the
least. Rockabilly fans get your credit cards out and head over to the Rock &
Roll Purgatory website to order this. (Bob Ignizio)