Lester Bangs used the term "grunge" as early as 1971 having it mentioned 4 times in his article "Psychotic Reactions & Carburetor Dung" which is included as first chapter in the collection of his essays published under the same name. While I am not doubting how important and influential he has been as music writer, I cannot stop myself from wondering whether his style of writing would have chances of resonance in our times of short attention span. I mean, using nearly 8.000 words to write about an album (Psychotic Reaction by The Count Five) that was released 5 years before the time the article was published and with a considerable part of the text devoted to another band (that is The Yardbirds) in order to establish the context for a comparison that supports the argumentation of the article !
Such an art in writing requires, above all, an audience of educated readers and this is something that our era is lacking...
I knew nothing about The Count Five before reading the fore mentioned article and even though I am not the biggest fan of garage rock, I have to admit that Psychotic Reaction (which is apparently one of their biggest hits and has been covered by The Cramps) is a great song. Just notice the ingenious tempo change after the first minute which is repeated throughout the song...
My free time outside work has been divided between music and reading. Here are the most interesting (but not necessarily best) albums that I have spent a significant amount of time listening to this week :
Playlist
Roger Fakhr - Habibi Funk 016: Fine Anyway
Habibi Funk Records is a Germany (Berlin) based record company specialised in resurfacing old and unreleased music from Arab artists. While I am not fond of rereleasing EVERY obscure album from ANY part of the globe and of ANY style, in the case of the Lebanese artist Roger Fakhr we are dealing with a hidden treasure so rich in musical styles that the whole worlds needs to unveil and listen.
WITCH - Introduction
The album title is self explanatory, WITCH's debut from 1974 is an introduction to the most important band of Zamrock (Zambian Rock) movement of the 70's. Fuzzy guitars, funky rhythms and another fine example which proves that the most interesting pieces of music come out from fusion of different styles.
Svdestada - Azabache
Svdestada's new album drew my attention due to the appraisal it has received in many music forums and webzines. A ferocious mixture of Crust Core and Black Metal built on melodic riffs which even though it lacks any feeling of spontaneousness and originality, it still sounds monstrous. Too polished for my ears.
SLANT - 1집
Another "hype" case, South Korean SLANT deliver raw punk which reminds groups such as Totalitär but at least to my ears the result (mainly due to its short duration - that is 17 minutes) sounds incomplete. The sonic equivalence of a premature ejaculation.
Grauzone - Grauzone
One of my favourite listenings for the last two weeks, the original 1981 album plus all the songs from the discography of the Swiss post punk group Grauzone, sourced from the original reels and collected in this release. A real hidden gem for all the aficionados of 80's post punk!
*The Blog post title is taken from the same-named song contained in the compilation album Grauzone by Grauzone