Saturday, August 31, 2019

Night Nurse "The Antidote"

(Wolverine Records 2019)

Tell Me How
Baby Blue
Lost In Us
Who's The Fool
Ugh
Nurse U2 To Death
Self Esteem
Get Even
Bed Bug
Ding A Ling
First Steps

Finland seems to spit out talent without even trying. Bands from that neck of the woods bring a certain crossover rock appeal to things with the "billy" moniker stuck on the end. Night Nurse are no exception. Their latest offering "The Antidote" is oozing with slap bass driven sounds deserving of a bigger audience than just those of us hidden away yet in-the-know in the undergrowth of psychobilly's netherworld. Fronted by the sultry Nurse Camy, the quintet, as the album title alludes to, at least to my mind, offer up an antidote to the barrage of unimaginative, forgettable three-chord merchants clogging up the arteries of the scene. In their sonic syringe are equal measures of rock, punk'n'roll, indie-pop and an intravenous drip administering a steady flow of rockin' psychobilly. The production is on the money and sounds like it costed a fair bit of money to produce! This is no low budget affair. The mixing really is pristine. I will say however, the final track, First Steps, is quite a departure from the songs on the rest of the album. Stylistically I mean. It has that rock opus thing going on as opposed to the in-your-face onslaught of the others. Anyway, this album is filled with melodic, blood-romantic ditties that sound good on first listen and grow better and better with each subsequent listen. It's available on both LP and CD directly from Wolverine Records. Now I must dash as I have to ogle Nurse Camy once more in the video for Baby Blue...


Saturday, August 17, 2019

Degenerated "Downfall Of Humanity"

(Killjoy Records 2019)

Downfall Of Humanity
I Hate It

 Ah yes, good auld Degenerated. The trio of Berlin-bollixes are back with their second outing on vinyl. The boundary-bending blackguards certainly take no prisoners with what can only be described as a cacophony of chaos. Starting out with some mellow folky acoustic guitar it's not long until the whole thing descends into punked-out rockabilly psychosis of the lo-fi variety. Sonically they certainly capture the bleakness of the lyrics but with a memorable catchy chorus. Madman tells me the 7" was very much a DIY project and the forthcoming album is already mixed and has better production values. But I kinda like the DIY sound of this release so stick that up your f-hole.
Flipping her over, the fuzzabilly sound is replaced by somewhat of a psychotic hoedown ditty that appeals to my cowpunk sensitivities. I like the no-nonsense lyrical content too. Look at me there liking the new Degenerated record when Madman thought I would think it was shite! As is the norm for Killjoy, the little round slab is available in a range of colours...70 blue (band edition), 50 orange (Killjoy edition) and all the rest in black.