Nik Rainey – Page 22 – Lollipop Magazine

Verago-go – Flight 45 – Review

October 1, 1996

Really good stylistic, time-changing, harmonious masterpieces with psychedelic rock-pop-surf-sexy overtones.

The Suicide Commandos – Make A Record – Review

October 1, 1996

The Suicide Commandos were a Minneapolis punk band. Not much of a stretch these days, but this was ’77.

The Reverend Horton Heat – It’s Martini Time – Review

October 1, 1996

He said unto me three words that spoke volumes and lef’ dem lying ’round on the floor afterwards t’be used as drink coasters: “It’s Martini Time!”

Rosa Mota – Bionic – Review

October 1, 1996

One hot minute, it’s incantantory punk and Kate Pierson (or Cindy Wilson) the next, it’s string-mopped U.K. hee-hey with a sickly-sweet Pixie-sticky bassline.

Komeda – The Genius of… – Review

October 1, 1996

A retro-tinged pop sound that seems innocent enough, but is insidiously laced with a hypnotic undertow that Franz Mesmer would call “manipulative.”

8 Ball Shifter – Hanson – Review

October 1, 1996

It seethes with hellhound hiss and blood sickness, all in high-contrast black-and-white with sanguinary splashes that’d give Herschell Gordon Lewis pause.

Experimental Audio Research – at the Middle East – Review

September 1, 1996

It seemed as if we all could have left and come back a day or two later to find Boom’s boys still playing in perpetuity.

Melt Banana – Scratch or Stitch – Review

September 1, 1996

Melt Banana is even more scarifyingly abrasive in its high-speed calamity than previous champs of the yellow yelp, the Boredoms.

Joy Electric – We are the Music Makers – Review

September 1, 1996

The cover’s black, the CD’s black, Count Ronald Martin looks like a fop and plays cheesy synth-pop with old keyboards and his heliumated voice. I can dig it.

Gastr del Sol – Upgrade and Afterlife – Review

September 1, 1996

The key members of Mission of Burma and Squirrel Bait turned their backs on the heavy noise they stirred up in favor of quieter, more painterly explorations.