Toyen "Malír Smutnej" 1993***

I bought this CD on a whim, just because it was cheap and I liked the cover. I was familiar with Czechoslovakian 60's Beat music but this one was my first contact with the modern Czech indie scene - if such a scene even exists. It's difficult to tell, as there's little relevant information out there. One might blame the Czech language: even speaking it seems like an arduous task to non-natives, imagine trying to sing in it. But one listen to Toyen disproves this theory: their songs are easy on the ear, lyrical and melodic. In fact this album sounds a lot like early U2 - in an alternative world where English hasn't dominated popular culture, Toyen might also be international superstars. As it is, a googlesearch brings up mostly entries on the painter whose name they adopted. Which is just as well, otherwise I may never have heard of her/him: born Marie Čermínova, she/he adopted the name Toyen (from the French "citoyen") and often switched gender identities (usually preferring the male one). She/he was one of the founders and main representatives of the Czech surrealist movement since the 20's, leaned politically towards anarchism,  and saw her/his art championed by André Breton and other surrealist leaders. It's a story well worth reading and her/his paintings are equally worth of attention, so I'm glad this CD led me to the discovery of Toyen the painter. Back to the same-named band, they started as a punk group with the name Letadlo during the Communist era but kept getting marginalized by the government and eventually quit, only to reform with another name after the regime change. They got some international attention thanks to fan Scott Murphy from ABC-TV, but quickly quit any ambitions for an international career - as is evident in this, their second, album being exclusively sung in the Czech language whereas their debut was divided between Czech and English. Opener "Po Stopách Zmizelých Železnic" immediately catches the ear, a radio friendly tune reminiscent of REM circa "Green". It's followed by the lyrical new wave "Ten Druhý" inviting comparisons with early U2 and melodic ballad "Srdcerváč". "Myji Si Ruce" is guitar-driven rock  while "Fotky"'s indie pop carries echoes of The Smiths. "Byl Tu Chvíli" and "Příběh Lásky" are closer to 80's Goth (the former reminded me of Mission) and "Sv. Jan" is another epic U2 soundalike with a "heroic" guitar solo. The last two tracks are a couple of dance mixes that made me drop one star in the rating. They'd be OK as a standalone single (especially "Bestie") but tucked at the end of an atmospheric new wave album, they ruin the mood with their attempt to imitate the British rave scene of the time. That mis-step aside, this CD is another potent reminder that great music continues to grow away from the Anglocentric pop mainstream - if we only open up our ears to it...

**** for Po Stopách Zmizelých Železnic, Ten Druhý, Srdcerváč, Fotky, Byl Tu Chvíli

*** for Myji Si Ruce, Příběh Lásky, Sv. Jan, Bestie (Dancing Groovie Mix)

** for Železnice (N.Y.C. Summer Mix)

Ex "The Ex 30" 1979-2008 (rec) 2009 (comp)****

I've read about the famous Dutch anarchist movements of the 60's (the provos) and 70's (the kabouters) and their original and provocative ideas, but that spirit seems completely alien to the country I've been living in during the last decade. I hear some of the old activists have drifted toward the GroenLinks party, which recently had a great showing in the national elections, becoming the biggest "Left" party in the parliament with 14 seats (out of 150). If so, I'm disappointed. That party has a benign and level-headed profile, but isn't radical at all. I did meet some Dutch anarchists though, when the occupy movement created a rare stirring in this usually politically apathetic country. At some time we were also invited to their squat. Now, I'm not a stranger to squats: I've been in and out a number of political ones in Athens -most notably the (in)famous Villa Amalia- and of course did the obligatory pilgrimage to the Tacheles artists' squat in Berlin when I visited that city. But the Dutch one really surprised me: these people had more rules than the average Greek civil service. It made me realize that ideology is really surface deep, and that it all comes down to personal character and (centuries of) social evolution: it seems that even Dutch anarchists are as fond of structured and regulated life patterns as the rest of their countrymen. We Greeks, on the other hand, are inherently chaotic. For some people the ability to follow rules is a sign of adulthood. For us, it's a kind of mental paralysis. But, anyway, I don't want to dis Dutch comrades (only half joking here: I certainly wouldn't identify myself as an anarchist but I do have some sympathy for their cause). Their heart is in the right place. And, contrary to the often violent and destructive Greek movement, they have actually come up with a lot of creative artistic ideas, some of which can be linked to this group/musical collective from Amsterdam.
Ex have been around since 1979 and have released 20-odd records which are quite difficult to find in Greece, although they have a fan base there (all anarcho-punk bands do). When I moved to The Netherlands I imagined I'd be able to find some of their CD's in any Dutch record store, but that wasn't the case. Apparently most of their albums are self-released and distribution is difficult. Plus, there's always a problem when it comes to such a prolific band: where does one begin? usually it's either a "best of" or the band's undisputed classic. But I'm not aware of any such classic Ex album, and I wasn't able to locate a good compilation for years - until I happened upon "Ex 30" at a used records store in, of all places, Vienna. It turned out to be the best introduction I could ask for: a comprehensive overview of the band's career spanning 30 years and almost as many albums. With an everchanging line-up and (evidently) wide musical taste, Ex could never be described by any label as restrictive as 'punk' as they experiment with jazz, electronic, folk and world music forms. Opening track "Rules" benefits from funky bass a la Gang Of Four, but is otherwise overtly indebted to Crass, just like the next four punk songs ("Blessed Box at the Backseat", "Sucked Out Chucked Out #1", "The Wellknown Soldier", "Bouquet Of Barbed Wire"). "Jack Frost is Innocent" and "White Liverals" signify a move towards the post punk/new wave sounds of The Fall while the rest of disc 1 (covering 1980-1990) continues in the same aggressive style, sometimes incorporating influences from Spanish folk ("Ay Carmela", inspired by the 50th anniversary of the 1936 Spanish Revolution) or Brechtian cabaret ("Lied der Steinklopfer"), sometimes playing straight hardcore ("Headache by Numbers") or featuring wild saxophones ("Shopping Street"). Disc 2 opens with the dramatic "State of Shock" featuring the cinematic cello of Tom Cora. "Hidegen Fújnak A Szelek" is a cover of a Hungarian gypsy song, with female lead vocals and cello. "Stupid Competitions" from a later Tom Cora collaboration shows some jazz and celtic influences, while the great "Huriyet" and "Ethiopia Hagere" take us to the Middle East and Africa, respectively. The rest of disc 2 is quite eclectic running the gamut from avant-garde jazz ("Atoll", "Poor Bob", "Hat Fits The Shoe") to post punk ("Frenzy", "Listen to the Painters") to rap metal ("Former Reporter"). Forget their description as anarcho-punks; you'd be hard pressed to find another band as creative and eclectic as Ex, and this compilation seems to be the perfect place to start.

***** for State of Shock, Hidegen Fjnak a Szelek, Ethiopia Hagere

**** for Rules, Blessed Box at the Backseat, The Wellknown Soldier, Bouquet Of Barbed Wire, 

Jack Frost is Innocent, White Liverals,Ay Carmela, Shopping Street, The Big Black, Frenzy The Lawn Of The Limp, Huriyet, Listen to the Painters

*** for Sucked Out Chucked Out #1, Gonna Rob the Spermbank, Fire and Ice, Knock, Choice, Rara Rap, State of Freedom, Blah Blah, Der Steinklopfer, Stupid Competitions, Former Reporter, Travel On Poor Bob, If The Hat Fits The Shoe, Time Flies

** for Headache by Numbers, Atoll, Symfonie voor Machines

T. Tex Edwards & Out On Parole "Pardon Me, I've Got Someone To Kill" 1989 (reissue 2002)***

Now if this cover hasn't convinced you yet, this album probably isn't for you. You may have already gathered that it isn't very sophisticated stuff. On the other hand, if you're expecting comedy you should know that this take on classic country murder ballads may be funny and irreverent as the cover would suggest, but it's no mere parody. The band are well versed in the genre and play it straight while singer T. Tex Edwards' redneck snarl of a delivery may be slightly exaggerated but it's authenticly embedded in his musical DNA. Even when he played with punk rockers The Nervebreakers his Texan cowboy heritage wasn't far beneath the surface. That band had a fearsome live reputation but never released an album and was delegated to a footnote of the rock history books for supporting The Sex Pistols during their suicidal tour of the Southern United States. Just as well, because this left Tex free to delve into the darkest corners of country music and come up with a collection of the most twisted country murder songs not written by Johnny Cash. Tex and his band the aptly named Out On Parole never try to give a punk or rock spin on the songs, just slightly raise the camp value by accentuating the hillbilly factor. The album opens with the straight honky tonk country of Wynn Stewart's "I'm a Gonna' Kill You" and contains similar fare by Johnny Paycheck ("Pardon Me I've Got Someone To Kill"), Port Wagoner ("The Cold Hard Facts of Life", the waltzy "Rubber Room") and Eddie Noack ("Dolores" and "Psycho"). The latter has been a favourite of mine ever since I heard the amazing Beasts Of Bourbon version, featuring that other Tex, Aussie and former Nick Cave collaborator Tex Perkins. By the way, I can totally imagine Cave listening to this album and going "Cool idea! I should make a whole album of murder ballads, too!" Former Fuzztone Rudi Protrudi must have been listening to Edwards too, as he knicked a few songs for his own country album "L.S.D. Made a Wreck Outta Me" - including the title track originally by Wendell Austin. A couple of rockabilly tunes lively up the collection (Leon Bass' "Country Hix", The Travellin' Texans' "Beatin' on the Bars" and "You Ain't Gonna Live..."), while there's also the swinging violin and twanging guitar of "Smitty", Lee Hazlewood's dramatic ballad "The Girl on Death Row" and the spoken word "Strangler In The Night" a novelty single credited to the infamous Boston Strangler Albert Desalvo. The original album was released by Sympathy For The Record Industry in the U.S. and New Rose in Europe. This 2002 reissue appends a contemporary recording by Tex and The Affordable Caskets, Howard Crockett's "Last Will And Testimony Of A Drinking Man". The album is a fun listening and a good introduction to some cult country artists. You won't regret adding it to your collection.

**** for L.S.D. Made a Wreck Outta' Me, The Girl on Death Row, Psycho, Smitty, Beatin' on the Bars, The Rubber Room

*** for I'm a Gonna' Kill You, (Pardon Me) I've Got Someone to Kill, You Ain't Never Gonna' Live to Love Saturday Night Again, The Cold Hard Facts of Life, Country Hixes, Last Will and Testimony (Of a Drinking Man)

** for Dolores, Strangler in the Night

The Merrymen "The More The Merrier" 1965(?)***

I got this LP and a few others for 50 cents a piece at my neighbourhood record store. It's by a group I had never heard of before, The Merrymen. I found it kinda amusing that the liner notes refer to the Carribean as "our" (as in The British Crown's) "islands of the West Indies", but mostly it was the idea of these guys from Barbados posing with a backdrop of palm trees playing the "exotic" Greek tune "Never On Sunday" (Actually the original name of the song translates as "The Kids of Piraeus", but it featured in a 1960 movie called Never On Sunday). Around the same period Harry Belafonte also recorded many Hadjidakis tunes, including a different song from the same movie, for a successful duets album with Nana Mouskouri, so it seems that something about Greek music resonated with "West Indians". Well, it turns out the Hadjidakis connection had led me to one of the Caribbean's best hidden (to me, that is) "secrets". Apparently Emile Straker and The Merrymen are one of the region's best loved bands, have recorded a score of albums and even had a "hit" in Europe and the UK with "Caribbean Treasure Chest" (also in the ¢50 pile, presented here). So what did these guys do to deserve the title of "the Barbados Beatles"? Well, first of all, they're a boy band of the 60's: four loveable guys with a sunny disposition (no Lennon among them, then). Secondly, they have a knack for pleasant melodies and, thirdly, an ease in appropriating elements from different styles (Mexican ballads in "Rosita", Mediterranean music in "Never On Sunday", blues in "Corina", American folk in "Folk Medley" and the rockin' "Freight Train"). Truth be told, their blueprint seems to be not the Beatles but The Kingston Trio with a dash of Harry Belafonte. And even if they can't beat the latter with their renditions of "Scarlet Ribbons" and "Yellow Bird", Emile Straker can easily out-whistle anyone in pop music - which is what he's most memorable for in his country, apparently. For all their aforementioned diversity though, the record's highlights come when the Merrymen delve into their country's traditional calypso tunes like "Diddley Bops" and the "Merry Medley". Enjoy them with an ice-cold rum cocktail, one of their island's specialties...

**** for Diddley Bops, Merry Medley (Nobody's Business/Brown Skin Girl/Matilda/My Bucket's Got A Hole)

*** for Rosita, Freight Train, Yellow Bird, Never On Sunday, Corina, Folk Medley (My Lord, What A Morning/When The Saints/Gotta Travel On/Lonesome Me)

** for Scarlet Ribbons, Just Walk On By

P.S. Regarding the specific release date, there's no info either on the LP itself or in wikipedia, discogs, allmusic and other online databases. One relatively detailed history of the band is rather hazy with the timeline, but mentions in passing "...back in Barbados in May 1965, the Merrymen recorded another album with George Benson which spun off the song Diddly Bops" - unless they included it in more LP's (not unheard of in the 60's) this should be it. Apparently there are just two (contemporary) pressings on the WIRL label, one from Barbados and a Jamaican one, while the album has never been re-released either on vinyl or CD. 

Ty Segall "Manipulator" 2014****

I kept reading about Ty Segall and his various bands in the pages of magazines like Uncut and Mojo and thinking that his records seemed to be up my alley - almost everything labelled psychedelic is, except for drugs. I don't doubt that music makes the drug experience better, but I'm pretty sure that the drugs don't make the music any better. That's just the addicts' view: they need the drugs to enjoy music, dance, fuck, or do anything that non-addicts enjoy just fine without drugs. Just voicing my opinion, you understand. I'm not opposed to adults using drugs recreationally (or drink, or smoke) if they choose to. After all I live in Holland where soft drugs have been legal for decades, and I haven't seen any harm coming from that. But I've had enough with that mythologizing nonsense about "Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To" (as Spacemen 3 put it).

Anyway, Ty Segal reviews always mention psychedelia, garage rock, glam and -crucially- lots and lots of fuzz guitar. Now, I like fuzz. A band called The Fuzztones were my teenage idols. As long as there's some melody and/or groove. Reviews on "Manipulator" reported that the fuzz monster had been tamed, though certainly not exorcised completely. The production is clean and pop hooks abound, making this what everybody calls Ty's most "accessible" album, thus clearly the place to start. Opener "Manipulator" is dominated by an oscillating analogue synth reminiscent of electro pioneers Silver Apple, though not without a healthy dose of screeching electric guitar. "Tall Man Skinny Lady" is a smooth funky listen until the guitar solo, which sounds like aliens unleashing a secret weapon. "The Singer" is a Flaming Lips-style ballad with strings and an almost conventional blues solo while on "It's Over" groovy 60's garage meets proto-shoegazers Jesus & Mary Chain. "Feel" is a Zeppelin-ish hard rocker straight from the 70's, while "The Faker" and "The Clock" take us back to the 60s by way of The Yardbirds and Love with Arthur Lee, respectively. The acoustic boogie of "Green Belly" is where the self-professed T-Rex influence becomes most evident, but the Bolan/Bowie similarities are also to be found on "The Hand", "Don't You Want to Know? (Sue)", the Stonesy "Who's Producing You?" and "Stick Around", and the motorick rhythm-propelled of "Mister Main". "The Connection Man" and "The Crawler" are more fuzz laden garage rockers, and "The Feels" sounds like a Syd Barrett track with guitar overdubs by Nick Saloman (a.k.a. The Bevis Frond), while "Susie Thumb"'s combination of social satire and fuzz guitar brings to mind The Kinks circa 1966. So you see, one way or another, I've used all major rock references of the period between '66 and '73 to explain how this album sounds. Though it still doesn't sound like a retro relic (the way e.g. Fuzztones albums do) Segall has obviously immersed himself in classic rock songwriting and here freely appropriates elements for his own use. It's as if he really needed to show the world he was capable of producing a perfectly structured classic rock record before returning to his multifarious and impulsive discography. All I can say to this is... mission accomplished!

**** for Manipulator, Tall Man Skinny Lady, The Singer, It's Over, Feel, The Faker, The Clock, Green Belly, The Connection Man, Mister Main, Who's Producing You?, 

*** for The Hand, Susie Thumb, Don't You Want to Know? (Sue), The Crawler, The Feels, Stick Around

Chickn "Chickn" 2016****

It's been years since a Greek band surprised and excited me. Of course I don't live in Greece any more and so I don't have the chance to see a lot of them live, but my friend Anastasia provides me with CD's by some of the more interesting new underground/indie bands. "Chickn" is, for me, the cream of the crop. Psychedelic Rock has always been popular in Greece - especially around my old neighborhood Exarchia, with lots of specialized music bars and record shops. But there hasn't been a world-class band in this genre since the heyday of Purple Overdose some 20 years ago. And when I say world class, I mean it! In the recent years I've bought neo-psychedelic CD's by the likes of Tame Impala or MGMT based on the glaring reviews in the music press only to be underwhelmed by what I heard. Chickn are far, far better. Their sound is deeply rooted in the 60's and 70's, but also thoroughly modern. They have great melodies but are primarily groove-based, sometimes reminding me of stoner bands like Kyuss or Monster Magnet. Songs are often expanded into space rock jams but, on the record at least, never for too long (only 2 songs are around the 10-minute mark). Their album starts off with "Chickn Tribe", a funky blues with a deep groove, followed by "Omens" whose heavy psychedelia and swirling oriental synths remind me of Floyd circa "Set The Controls...". "Aleppo/Jam" features more spacey synths as well as melodic vocals. Soon it develops into a prog/space rock jam of the finest variety. "Modular Prayer" is a more conventional song in 60's psych style - evidently they keep the improvisations for "Modular Prayer (Reprise)" which veers closely to free jazz territory. "Taqsim/Rhy/Tavk Hava" is an Eastern-sounding jam that seems to be influenced by early Porcupine Tree and the 60's U.S. band Kaleidoscope. "Forget/Small Things" starts off like H.P. Lovecraft but soon turns into a space rock jam. "Articulation" is a slow electronic piece that reminds me of yet another obscure 60's band, Silver Apples - are you taking notes? Good, because if you don't already know all these bands you should definitely check them out. "Prelude On Mary" is a bucolic interlude before a last psychedelic jam "Shifting Time Blues/Akhedia". The band call their music Jetztzeit (Now-Time) rock, which is a general term open for interpretation. You can call it neo-psychedelia, space rock, prog, stoner rock, jam music, whatever - it is what it is. You can listen to the whole album for free online (and/or buy) here.

**** for Chickn Tribe, Omens, Aleppo/Jam, Modular Prayer, Taqsim/Rhy/Tavk Hava,

*** for Forget/Small Things, Articulation, Modular Prayer (Reprise), Prelude On Mary, Shifting Time Blues