Crash Normal - Finger Shower 10" + RIJ012 7"

[gigi]

Due nuove uscite inutili su rijapov

Crash Normal - Finger Shower 10"

Flying Monster Edition



RedWood Edition


Artwork by Kerozen

Potete ascoltare un pezzo sul loro profilo myspace e uno sul mio o scaricando una recente "puntata" di Art For Spastics

If you were one of those ballyhooers who pooh-poohed the last Crash Normal album--My First Stop--for being too straightforward of a Jon Spencer-ish garagey bluespunk album and lacking in all the cool artpunk angles and junk-techno accoutrements of Heavy Listening and earlier singles, then you'll probably be happy to hear this new Finger Shower 10" a-comin' on Rijapov soon. The Spencer touch has been lifted in favor of a Wallers slant; the Country Teasers are covered on this, and echoed throughout. Have a taste of "Chrome Cramps" this week...you might envision the possible result if Wallers had borrowed "Doktor Avalanche" offa Sisters of Mercy to make a headphone soundtrack for crushing the countryside in an armored tank. As Crash Normal has been a twin guitar attack in the past, I don't know if there's a bass guitar anywhere here, but it's no matter 'cos there's some brawny low-end presence that syncs up brilliantly with the rhythmic bludgeon. It's certainly a lot more dour and mean than anything you've heard from Crash Normal before, but I think that old fans will be very pleased. Another fun thing about this 10" is how it makes you wonder....What the hell is a finger shower??? Is that something like the scene in "Election" when Matthew Broderick's character takes a genital shower before returning home to his wife after an extramarital tryst?

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RIJ012   I Love You More As Dead b/w Slow Dance 7"

[gigi]

I romani eventualmente interessati possono trovare entrambe le uscite da Soulfood/Hate Records.

[gigi]

Recensioni dall'aggiornamento estivo di Terminal Boredom

Crash Normal "Finger Shower" 10"
I quite enjoyed the first few Crash Normal singles (the debut 7", the Royal EP, the Splash Four split...) but became less and less enthused from the 'Heavy Listening' LP onward. This 10" is the Crash Normal record I've liked the most since those early seven inches. They kick off the A-Side sounding like they're interestingly ripping off an A-Frames tune, and then give you a one-two punch of a song that sounds a hell of a lot like (a more amped and French) Country Teasers ("Bikinies Invaiders") and an actual Country Teasers cover ("Hairy Wine 2") with a really convincing Ben Wallers impression. Their best performance on record in years. B-Side gets more digital, but starts with a lot of promise. The cleverly named "Chrome Cramps" makes you think about the reference without being too obvious and "Stand in the Queue" reminds me of deconstructed Brit-pop (The Fall vs. Pulp or some shit...). They close out with two tracks on the more synthetic side of things, which just really make me want to listen to this A-Side of this again. A solid release from a French band that has to be running on fifteen years of existence now. They lasted through the garage-punk years, the blues-trash boom and even Glue Wave, and have really changed very little throughout. For that I think they deserve some accolades as well. Scum stats: 600 copies, two different sleeves.(RK)
(Rijapov Records // myspace.com/rijapovrecords)


V/A Movie Star Junkies and Vermillion Sands 7"
From what Gigi tells me, this was originally supposed to be a split of MSJ and VS covering each other's tunes, but then just morphed into the two bands becoming one and turning into another un-named band. Kind of a cool concept really, more split singles where the bands combine forces please! Two songs from the group included here, Anna (VS) sings on both, accompanied with different male vox on each. "Slow Dance" is slow (duh), sort of a swampy/creepy torch song that could've be in an episode of True Blood or something (and I mean that in a good way), with steel guitar, electric piano and Wurlitzer action, Southern Gothic via Italy. "I Love You More As Dead" sounds like an Eye-tye Nick cave and the Bad Seeds...murder ballad and all that. Well executed stuff and if you've been into either band so far, this is a cool little piece of vinyl with a creepy cover. (RK)
(Rijapov Records // myspace.com/rij012)