Lost Sounds
Rat’s Brains and Microchips (Empty)
by Craig Regala
Garagest crank/psych roots jerked up through the eye-rolling wise-ass “you promised the end of the world, but we’re still here” ’80s as defined by early Joy Division/Factory Records/Magazine and, more importantly, The Velvet Monkees (one of DC’s coolest rock units ever). Off-kilter analog synth zoinking and buzzing shoots through melodramatic straight-forward art-punkoid rhythms and enough prog “jerk on a chain” changes and Siouxsie and the Banshees/Cure/Tuxedo Moon to keep the punkers at bay, dumb asses that they are, even as they could tour with the majority of the Dirtnap label’s “snot/gurk wave” bands. No reason you Trail of the Dead/Cursive/Cinch/Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s/Morsel/Poem Rocket etc. fans of “Nu” “post punk” couldn’t hustle a couple drinks off some fanzine dork as he tells you how great these guys are. You know, he’s movin’ towards being right, too. Frantic without being panicky, melodic without giving up on guitar crunch… Fuck, you could do a helluva lot worse. Suggested covers: Bowie’s “Scary Monsters,” Pere Ubu’s “Chinese Radiation,” Mission of Burma’s “Trem Two,” or Wire’s “Pink Flag.”
