My Top Ten List

by Jon Sarre

1. Steel Miners All Hopped Up (Instant Mayhem) – Six scuzzy nuggets that fly by in two minute garage bursts. It’s coarse, crude, mean, and hands down the best record of 1996.

2. Cobra Verde Vintage Crime (Scat) – These guys used to be Death of Samantha, but now they’ve turned down the wardrobe. The Stooges riffs remain, however.

3. Zeke Flat Tracker (Scooch Pooch) – Fast ‘n’ loose ‘n’ a very American approximation of Mötorhead.

4. Man Or Astroman?, The Monomen, Cheater Slicks and Sub-Sonics Live at Satyricon, Portland, OR. – Great lineup, great music, great show.

5. Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments “Punk Rock Secret” 7″ (Bag of Hammers) – Recorded in ’94, but released (I think) this year. A-side is flat-out great, B-side (re-worked cover of “My Generation”) is better.

6. (tie) Gibson Bros. Columbus Soul ’85 (In the Red) – Lo Fi bluesabilly artifacts from back when Jeff Evans and Don Howland were just startin’ out.
6. (tie) Railroad Jerk The Third Rail (Matador) – Tongues firmly planted in cheeks and pretensions on their sleeves, Marce Hall and co. put out a new record cos sooner or later everyone will catch on to the joke (they hope).

8. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Now I Got Worry (Matador) – Had to include this somewhere.

9. Bad Brains Black Dots (Caroline) – Passed out at a party and woke up to see everyone still on their feet running around and slamming into each other. One guess as to what the soundtrack was…

10. Gaunt Kryptonite (Thrill Jockey) – The best pop-punk this side of Screeching Weasel. I just realized that this is the fourth Ohio band on my list (Cobra Verde and Tom Jeff Slave Apts hail from the Buckeye State and the Gibson Bros. did originally. Come to think of it, the Cheater Slicks also have an Ohio connection). One state has it’s shit together. Now, if the rest of us could just do something… Maybe in ’97…?