PowerSolo "The Real Sound" (2014)

The Real Sound
release date: May 19, 2014
format: cd (FROG 100-2)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: PowerSolo, Jesper Reginal, The Great Nalna (aka Ulrik Petersen)
label: Crunchy Frog - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Boom Babba Do Ba Dabba" - 2. "Sasquatch" - 3. "Two Headed Woman" - 6. "Jurassic Sex Party" - 9. "Salty Lick" (other remix) - 10. "Milk That Thang"

6th studio album by PowerSolo, again produced and also on additional instrumentation with the Petersen brothers, they have made an interesting but slightly conventional PowerSolo release putting this alongside, or at best close to, the 2004 album It's Raceday... and Your pussy is GUT!!! Like that, this starts out very promising and with several fine compositions but there are too many fillers thrown in to complete a full album.

PowerSolo "Buzz Human" (2011)

Buzz Human
release date: Feb. 14, 2011
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Jesper Reginal, The Great Nalna & The Railthin Bros
label: Crunchy Frog - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 2. "I Love You But I Hate You" - 9. "Teach You Fun" - 10. "Sensation" - 13. "She Fights Your Boredom With Her Soul"

5th studio album by the duo PowerSolo produced by the producer brothers: Jesper Reginald Petersen and his brother 'The Great Nalna' [Ulrik Petersen] together with the PowerSolo brothers, here credited as The Railthin Bros. This is the first studio album completely without the band's former drummer JC Benz (aka Jens Søndergaard). Credits for drums and percussion are handed the Jeppesen and Petersen brothers (and I actually think that the album lacks good basic drumming). With this, PowerSolo comes out more subdued - perhaps because of the 'missing' drummer? - which could be fine considering the ecstatic turbo-mix they normally produce, but here it's mostly neither this nor that making it a lesser work of art compared to the predecessor, although, the production once again is fine.

PowerSolo "Bloodskinbones" (2009)

Bloodskinbones
release date: Feb. 23, 2009
format: vinyl (FROG 073-1) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,44]
producer: PowerSolo
label: Crunchy Frog - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Murder in SFAX" - 2. "Busses" (live) - 3. "Psych Demons" - 4. "Gimme the Drugz" - 5. "Pirates of the Oblivion" - 6. "4-3-2-1" - 8. "Elvin D Jerk (Part 2)" - 10. "Canned Love" - 12. "Nineteen Ninety-Six"

4th studio album by PowerSolo is the usual mix of styles. Most tracks here are melodic and a fusion of psychobilly and alt. rock built on elements from surf rock, punk rock and with a certain twist of Slavic music - and that certain twist is probably a very common expression when referring to the music by Kim 'Kix' Hjort Jeppesen, his brother Bo (on this album credited simply as Atomic Child). The usual PowerSolo trio has now been reduced to a duo, consisting of the brothers Jeppesen; however, the band's regular drummer Jens "Chief Benz" Søndergaard (here credited JC Benz) still handle the drums. On the front cover it reads: "Powersolo is Atomic Child / Kim Kix". Like on the previous album Egg (2006) some of tracks make me think of They Might Be Giants - just listen to "Nineteen Ninety-Six". The album was mostly just ignored by regular music consumers, but this is the band's so far best album, imho.
Once again, PowerSolo music founds it alternative way to consumers. The track "Pirates of the Oblivion" was used in a Danish commercial for a comedy tv-series, and the track "Canned Love" brought some attention to the band when Coca-Cola used it in a commercial.

PowerSolo "Egg" (2006)

Egg
release date: May 15, 2006
format: cd (FROG 046-2)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: Jesper Reginal, The Great Nalna and PowerSolo
label: Crunchy Frog - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 2. "Knucklehead" (4 / 5) - 3. "Action" - 5. "Every Litte Girl" - 7. "Rockin' " - 10. "White Choklet"

3rd studio album by the Danish trio PowerSolo who sound more like They Might Be Giants on this than any other band, imho. The album is co-produced by Jesper Reginald (aka Yebo) of Thau and Tremolo Beer Gut.
There's still a huge blend of styles involved (a bit like on many albums by TMBG). PowerSolo is not just a copy-band or a clone of the American indie pop duo, the music is still highly original and full of energy and craziness - I guess with some inspirational source in Monty Python and the original American surf rock bands of the early '60s as well.
I don't find this quite as catchy as the previous album, and the best track here is a harmony-driven and chorus-based song that stands out on an uneven album. There are many uptempo tracks filled with surf rock and psychobilly elements securing a steady beat just without great ideas or memorable chorus-lines, and Egg is, except for the debut album, perhaps the band's least interesting release.

PowerSolo "It's Raceday ... and Your Pussy Is GUT!!!" (2004)

It's Raceday... and Your Pussy Is GUT!!!
release date: Mar. 8, 2004
format: vinyl (FROG 036-1) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: The Great Nalna, Jesper Reginal, PowerSolo
label: Crunchy Frog - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Baby You Ain't Looking Right" - 2. "Kat Nazer (Powersoul)" (4 / 5) - 4. "Juanito" (4 / 5) - 5. "Oak Tree Girl"

2nd studio album by PowerSolo is much better than the debut from 2001. The brothers Petersen (Jesper Reginal and Ulrik, "The Great Nalna"), co-founders of Crunchy Frog and former drummer of Thau, have both helped producing the album, and that really lifts the music to another level. The band members credited here are: Atomic Child (aka Bo Hjort Jeppesen) on guitars, bass, lap steel, and backing vocals, JCBenz (aka Jens Søndergaard) on drums and percussion, and with Kim Kix (Kim Hjort Jeppesen) on lead vocal, guitars and 'dawghouse' bass.
"Kat Nazer", which was included on the debut really sounds much better on this album. The music of PowerSolo is still a blend of all kinds of styles and influences. Compared to the debut, this has less country rock and psychedelic rock elements and is instead pulled in new directions of more melodic indie pop with inspiration from surf rock and Mexican traditional folk. The first half of the album is clearly the best, and it points to an album at 3,5 or even 4 stars. However, the second half tend to reproduce what sounds like mere improvisations and are like silly songs, which probably was a lot of fun recording in the recording studio, but the result is not really brilliant. I think, not only band and record label but also most critics had expected the band to go a lot further with this album. They really deserved (and still do deserve) much more credit than paid, but that's part of the business. The album didn't bring the success, but luckily PowerSolo kept making music.

The track "Juanito" was used in a French commercial for SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français) [National French Rail company], and the track "Baby You Ain't Looking Right" found its way to a Ford commercial, AND "Kat Nazer" was used in a Heineken commercial.

PowerSolo "Lemon Half Moon" (2001)

Lemon Half Moon [debut]
release date: 2001
format: cd (ESP 998-2)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,52]
producer: Kim Kix (aka Kim Jeppesen)
label: E.S.P. Recordings - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 2. "I Know a Game" - 4. "Kat Nazer" (live) - 14. "Eing Eing Eing"

Studio debut album by PowerSolo consisting of Kim Hjort Jeppesen (aka Kim Kix) on vocals and guitar, his brother Bo Hjort Jeppesen (aka Atomic Child, aka Atombarnet) on guitars and backing vocals, and with Jens Søndergaard (aka Chief Benz, aka JC Benz) on drums.
This is really like nothing else. The trio mix all (like in: ALL) kind of genres and musical styles to whatever it is they play. The most recognised styles here are psychobilly, punk rock, country rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock, new wave, industrial and no wave. Despite the huge pot of styles, it's highly energetic and full of humour. The lyrics often include a lot of swearing, sexual references, and are mostly about life... as such. Work, sex, addiction, relationships, moral, love, women, cats, sex, alcohol, music, ignorance, and... sex. Well, this is not their best. It mostly sound like a lot of recorded jam sessions under the influence of some form of stimuli.

The Raveonettes "Whip It On" (2002) (ep)

Whip It On (ep) (debut)

release date: May 27, 2002

format: cd

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]

producer: [rec. by Sune Rose Wagner]

label: Crunchy Frog - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: 1. "Attack of the Ghost Riders" - 2. "Veronica Fever" - 3. "Do You Believe Her" - 4. "Chains" - 5. "Cops on Our Tail" - 6. "My Tornado" - 7. "Bowels of the Beast" - 8. "Beat City"

Studio ep debut by Danish duo The Raveonettes consisting of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo. Wagner put an end to his brain-child Psyched Up Janis in 1999, and after a short stint with the instrumental psycho-billy band Tremolo Beer Gut, Wagner formed The Raveonettes with bassist Sharin Foo in late 2001. Initially, the band was full-members band centered around Wagner and Foo, and along the way it rooted as a duo, who would invite various musicians and vocalist to perform on specific releases.

Whip It On is an 8-track ep (originallly issued in Digipak and 10'' vinyl formats) with a running length just above 21 minutes resulting in quite short compositions all credited Wagner. A note on the cover cover stating: "Recorded in Glorious Bb-Minor" explicitly add detailed information about the music. For these recordings the duo made use of additional guitarist Manoj Ramdas and drummer Jakob Hoyer.

Stylewise, this debut represents a narrow combo of styles mostly originating from the late 1950s and early 1960s. It's basically a blend of garage rock, surf rock, and rockabilly - sometimes with a twist of 'modern' psychobilly, and with full attention on twang and reverb. Wagner already showed his interest for American old school rock music while playing in Psyched Up Janis - accentuated on the band's final studio album Enter the Super Peppermint Lounge (1998), and then with Tremolo Beer Gut, he commited fully on surf rock, rockabilly and psychobilly styles. In that regard, The Raveonettes comes out as a more harmony- and vocal-founded project, which focus both on compositional strength as well as presenting us with actual songs. This is actually, something you could say about their entire following production on the many albums that would follow this, and also despite taking on various stylistic detours on their way, but The Raveonettes always seem to carry a strong affection for quality of sound by implementing their output via... songs. The front cover is characteristically held in b/w with few coloured letters - again setting time and place to a period of the late 1950s and early 1960s - basically pre-Beatles era, which at the early stage of the band was mandatory. The album credits doesn't mention any producer, only that Sune Wagner recorded and wrote all tracks.

The album was met by some national attention and the band was right from scratch on both a critics' darling and a much treasured live cult act, i.e. not as such a mainstream hit but a band with evident potential.

The Gun Club "Miami" (1982)

Miami
release date: Sep. 20, 1982
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,55]
producer: Chris Stein
label: Animal Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Like Calling Up Thunder" - 5. "Devil in the Woods" - 9. "John Hardy" - 11. "Sleeping in Blood City"

2nd studio album by The Gun Club follows one year after Fire of Love but has a much more polished sound than the raw debut, which had put the band's name on every ones' lips. That may be the reason to how Blondie composer and guitarist Chris Stein ended up in the producer seat, and that may not have been the brightest decision. The band members list credited on the album is unchanged from the debut. Yes, Jeffrey Lee Pierce had been head of the Blondie fan club and simply adored Debbie Harry, but the sound / style of The Gun Club is really not part of the same neighbourhood as Blondie, and that was perhaps what Stein assumed, I think. The sound here fits what Blondie did - a more pop-founded new wave with a certain rawness to it, but basically, Blondie never was really dirty - they were never labelled punk. The Gun Club soothed of rawness, and of everything that's stuck to the other side of the coin of... "prettiness". The band is more in the same category as The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds, with a direct link to Iggy and the Stooges, and as a modernised version of Rolling Stones. Debbie Harry (credited as D.H. Laurence Jr. on the album) is credited for adding backing vocals to the album, and although, Pierce may have been thrilled and honoured by the presence of the Blondie-couple, they do not add anything good to The Gun Club.
After this album, the band went through a major change as bassist Rob Ritter left to join another band and Pierce fired guitarist Ward Dotson (who had replaced Kid Congo Powers) and drummer Terry Graham.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Mojo, Uncut 4 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]

The Gun Club "Fire of Love" (1981)

org. cover

Fire of Love [debut]
release date: Aug. 31, 1981
format: cd (2000 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]
producer: Chris Desjardins, Tito Larriva
label: Last Call Records (re-issue) - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Sex Beat" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Preaching the Blues" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Promise Me" - 4. "She's Like Heroin to Me" - 5. "For The Love of Ivy" - 7. "Ghost on the Highway" - 11. "Goodbye Johnny"

Studio debut album by L.A. post-punk band The Gun Club consisting of songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Rob Ritter on bass, Ward Dotson on guitars and slide, and with Terry Graham on drums. The band changed members throughout its 16 year lifespan. Lee Pierce is almost synonymous with The Gun Club, as he was the only lasting member through various formations of the band, however, these were the four members at the time of the recordings for this album. The Gun Club plays an energetic form of post-punk with a clear garage rock influence, which comes out as rockabilly, psychobilly, and what some would call punk blues. I guess, at the time of the release another label would have been art punk. The mix of styles puts the band in family with another legendary band, New York-based The Cramps. The album has aged, but it really was something else in 1981, when most bands of the punk scene, either played post-punk as art punk, no wave, gothic rock, or psychobilly, but this is quite original with its inclusion of blues rock and garage rock in an up-tempo and melodic way, although Pierce was influenced by the relatively new style of no wave. The band and Jeffrey Lee Pierce has been source of inspiration for many artists including Danish Sods / Sort Sol, Thin White Rope, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and in modern days: The White Stripes. From the early 1980s, I recall, a rather well-known record store in mid-town Copenhagen, who had taken its name from this album's first track: Sex Beat Records.
It's not all great but I really like the singing voice of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, which consists of both an uncertain craziness and a disturbing fragility, and then I'm quite pleased with the garage rock sound on most of the tracks - an element they [or: he] maintained on all albums by the band. Sometimes, however, the band tend to play with too much psychobilly, at least on this album, which make me think of The Cramps. The album is somehow the only by The Gun Club to be included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Personally, I don't find it among the band's 3 best.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Uncut Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

2000 remaster

My Bloody Valentine "Geek!" (1985) (ep)

Geek!, ep
release date: Dec. 1985
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,72]
producer: My Bloody Valentine
label: Fever Records - nationality: Ireland

Ep by Irish band My Bloody Valentine is a 4 track ep.

Stylistically, this doesn't really differ from their mini-album released 11 months earlier. Keyboardist Tina Durkin has left the band and bassist Debbie Googe has become a new member.

My Bloody Valentine "This Is Your Bloody Valentine" (1985)

This Is Your Bloody Valentine, mini-album
release date: Jan. 1985
format: digital (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,77]
producer: My Bloody Valentine
label: Dossier Records - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 3. "Don't Cramp My Style" - 5. "The Love Gang" - 6. "Inferno"

Studio mini-album debut by Irish band My Bloody Valentine originally released on Tycoon Records is a 7 track album at just above 25 minutes playing time. From the formation of the band in '83 and up to this point the band had gone through a phase with ever-changing band members with only Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig as the only stable members. Here, the band consist of vocalist David Conway, Kevin Shields on guitar, bass and backing vocals, Tina Durkin on keyboards, and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig (credited as Colm Cusack). Stylistically, it's close to the music of contemporary Scottish band Jesus and Mary Chain with a distinct psychobilly inspiration with distorted guitars and a close bond to gothic rock and post-punk.
I only came to listen to this after all of their successive three albums, and it really is a completely different style as to what the band has become known and famous for. Vocalist Dave Conway sounds a bit like Dave Vanian of The Damned, and the music comes out as a clone of The Damned, The Cure, Ramones of the mid-80s and The Cramps. One could also argue that there's a bond to the debut by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Anyway, it's almost hard to accept as an album by My Bloody Valentine, but this is their (and Shields') formative sound despite the band's own failing attempts in finding a suitable new name when they would later change their style and again replace band formation. I do think this is much more in the style of what Robert Smith referred to when he pointed to My Bloody Valentine as an upcoming band to look out for, as this has much more in common with the roots of The Cure than what Shields and Co. would produce in the early 90s, although, that would generally be much more valued.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]