(Estrus) www.estrus.com
Having this melting your eardrums down into something that would kill gorillas if smoked it quickly becomes apparant that the folks at Estrus have a habit and a knack of signing combos with cats that write cool riffs with claws as sharp as tiger feet, from The Soledad Brothers pure genius Fucked-up-a-bit-a-billy The Fall featuring Mark E. Smith's impression of Mick Jagger on Break 'Em On Down, full of scratchy Scotty Moore and Folsom Prison Blues riffs (an absolute gem, the standout on this album, their other offering - Teenage Heartattack - can't hope to compete despite it staggering around on The Stones Soul Survivor riff propped up with some bottleneck pilfered like the poorest pauper at a beggar's banquet) to the mighty Federation X's pneumatic pounding in the intricate, taut, twisting & turning high-tension-wire nightmare soundtrack of Moose Blood (and equally, the spasmodic barrage of Tonight's Special .38 Special). Stand up and take a bow too The Immortal Lee County Killers who, like Fed X, churn out great spirals of clunky riffs like the evil bastard hell bound offspring of old moonshine guzzling bluegrass banjo pickers, especially on Preachin' More Fuckin' Blues - a raging & engagingly warped 2-steppin' rabid bluesy shuffle that flits between a signature slide motif & then interjects the odd belch of Sabbath chord for a split second that hits you like a runaway express train that started off around Sabbath Bloody Sabbath & began losing control somewhere south of heaven - completely diabolical, in the proper sense, as crazed & dark as Charlie Patton, Leadbelly or the early hoodoo voodoo of Muddy Waters. Man or Astro-Man's Wayward Meteor also smashes into this category, being an agile little surfabilly instrumental in the vein of Rev. Horton Heat (Big Sky) and Huevos Rancheros that would fit neatly into place on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack - all Gretschy Duane Eddy twangs... Electrostatic Brain Field does too 'cept not quite as good tho' it again starts with a sample/imitation from/of old sci-fi B movies. The Fireballs of Freedom and Gasoline cough up some gargantuan jamkicking garage psych grooves in true MC5 stylee, especially on The Fireballs 2 part mini-epic The Halls of Sonic Splendo(u)r, which spits out some seriously full-throated bassing. It should've been on High Times instead of that song that I don't like too much and whose title I can't remember (also another one I can't currently find)... kinda like a less earth-shattering Zen Guerrilla if you'd like a current comparison. I'm also quite taken with Gasoline's Hard Rock The Roll with it's interlocking and interweaving guitar & bass patterns and Monkey Tone's general air of rampant chaos, as it poleaxes it's way thru' a brutally bastardized Bo Diddley beat with vocalisms akin to Butthole Surfer's Gibby Haynes (The O-Men). Meanwhile, across Detroit Iggy's yet again to be found in The Monkeywrench who didn't particularly stand out too much 'til Black Plastic Tarp changes gear and mugs you for the admission fee to a vicious rollercoaster ride. Low On Air meanders a bit and treads water in it's slow, funky growl but it still at least has a welcome malevolent growl to it. Was also a bit disappointed with Gas Huffer and The Cherry Valence who are a pair I've seen in town here (in our righteous Vinyl Exchange) record wise. The Huffer's speedpunk Bad Religion meets Pere Ubu's Final Solution Aldedly Blues worries me that with a cleaner, more expensive production it could sound like Green Day or some shit (you know what to do, boys, right?). They showcase two differing sounds tho' & Ghost in the Lighthouse is guided along by a pleasantly creepy, walking geetar part. Similarly The Valence change tack too, the fuzzy ZZ Top slowburning grungemetal boogie of opener Turn It On Up sounds real 1980's rawk, not in too much of a bad way, but in a kinda indifferent way. 2nd track Two Headed Woman is better, mainly due to the fact that you can't really fail as it's based on Flamin' Groovies Heading For The Texas Border (gets a lot of mileage that 'un does). Fatal Flying Guillotines hoik up the good riff quota again on Call The Draw which has the frenetic furious unhinged unpredictability of Billy Childish's various combos, as does Rawhide 2000 but this puts me more in mind of Groop Dogdrill with it's rolling and rumbling industrial (sized) Big Black bassline and rambling, almost stream-of-consciousness vocals (or maybe it's 'cos some kindly soul recently furnished me with their early singles as my tape's fucked). That just leaves The Total Sound Group Direct Action Committee. Their Burn Bright... (sorry, there's more title to it but I can't read my scrawl) doesn't basically. It could've done as it starts off strongly but then does precisely zilcho for the next 4 minutes, thereby somewhat ruining all the good work. Also not too sure if it's a good idea to strut your stuff on a comp by doing a cover but The Attack's Anymore Than I Do is a peachy kinda toon and they do it very well. Also if it introduces it to some more people then mission accomplished. On the whole this is ver, ver good and worth it for The Soledad's and Lee County alone, never mind Fed X, Astro Man and that most of the others are worth a leedle bit more than a passing listen. A thoroughly well deserved tip of the old medicine hat and a glass or two tipped in their general direction from moi, methinks. - Stu Gibson