Automatic Head Detonator

Live Outside Sonic Youth Gig (Lo Fi)
by Steve Tremain

Automatic Head Detonator recorded a guerrilla show outside a Sonic Youth gig on a flatbed. You can hear Thurston’s guitar in the background between songs. The recording’s a piece of shit, naturally, but who cares? The music is great, full of basement energy and good-natured violence. It’s like those days in the garage, rocking out, making a ruckus, drinking beer, and recording it on your friend’s boom box. One of the songs starts with a recording of a Beatles tune (“It’s All Too Much”), before bursting into some searing punk. The album fades out when the singer shouts, “Tell us when the cops come!”