Merch: September 4, 2008
UFO
Best of UFO, 1974-1983 (Chrysalis)
Are! You! Ready! To… well, jerk your head and throw the horn to 19 songs from these 1970s U.K. metalheads. Big everywhere but these shores, UFO began in 1969 as Hocus Pocus, a London quartet enjoying little renown until 1974, when they swiped guitarist Michael Schencker from the Scorpions and got a deal from Chrysalis. The resultant album, Phenomenon, produced “Rock Bottom,” “Oh My,” and the lingering suspicion a decade on that UFO exerted a decisive influence on Spinal Tap, that reductio ad stoliditas of all blues-based heaviness. This impression isn’t at all dispelled by extracts from their later output – tunes like “Shoot, Shoot” and “Natural Thing” are the kind of straight-ahead goodtime classic rock now roaring back from the indie bone-grove. These boys were orthodox to their bootsoles, but that also means they follow in the great greatest-hits tradition of including one mindblower you’ve never heard and only dreamt existed; in this case, the seven-minute-plus “Love to Love,” off 1977’s Lights Out. The 7-inchers included are all worthy, from “Only You Can Rock Me” to live covers of “Young Blood” and “Doctor, Doctor.” Schenker’s guitar is required listening for any would-be axe-choker, and they could’ve used Phil Mogg’s classy vocals in Klaatu, if not the Mothers of Invention. Schenker went on to form the Michael Schenker Group, UFO (temporarily) disbanded in the early 1980s, and the world’s taken many a weird old turn since. –Ron Garmon
Carney
Nothing without You EP (DAS)
For a band from Los Angeles, it is only appropriate that Carney’s sound encapsulates the very concept of being big. Everything on their debut EP reeks of ambitious bombast, from the Geddy Lee-like vocals of Reeve Carney to the reverb-drenched solos of his brother Zane. Everything on this EP is straight out of the ’70s classic rock playbook: the heavy riffs, the howling vocals, the symphonic production, and even the gospel female backing vocals. “There She Goes” recalls Todd Rundgren at his poppiest with its rolling rhythm, while “Testify” strives for a fuller, Zeppelinesque sound with Reeve Carney in full-on “Lord hear my call!” mode. For a band reaching for a higher power, one can only expect much grander things in their future. –Carman Tse
Various
Ruckwarts Im Uhrzeigersinn (Das Drehmoment)
The new compilation from Berlin-based label Das Drehmoment is an absolute must for all those who daydream in outerspace. Chock full of neue electro, minimal tech pop, EBM, and spacelounge, Ruckwarts Im Uhrzeigersinn is the soundtrack for your next voyage on that fabulous German disco-spaceship. Gaze out the starboard porthole and pontificate to nu-new wave tracks by Syn and Replicant. Pick up mysterious Italian hitchhikers and treat them to Kalson’s spooky Italo-disco. Let those obnoxious goth teenagers onboard take over the space-dance floor with dark, brooding electronica by Lesbian Mouseclicks. Seduce the captain with the sci-fi-rific techno track “I Drive My Spaceship” by Direct Control. As the oxygen reserves get low, you can hallucinate with interplanetary paranoia to “Tourist,” by Transactive Nightzone, which sounds like the lovechild of the B-52’s and Berlin (of “Metro” fame). With 16 tracks of pure interstellar bliss, Ruckwarts will take you to exotic electronic galaxies, and then return you safely to your Weltraumhafen. (That’s German for spaceport.) –Ramie Becker
Polysics
We Ate the Machine (MySpace Records)
A beautiful balancing act that the Japanese have long been performing is finding the perfect harmony between kitsch and art. With their latest release, Polysics find themselves continuing their Devo-inspired take on new wave without completely overdoing the same act they have been doing for almost a decade. Combining the fury of a technological punk band and borrowing a few vocoders from Daft Punk, We Ate the Machine is another goofy ride into a dysfunctional dystopian future of robot love and digital dancing. “Moog Is Love” owes heavily to Daft Punk’s own “Robot Rock,” while the beautifully intricate “Irotokage” resembles what we think Michael Jackson would be recording now if he were Japanese and not crazy. It’s a strange future these guys come from, and I just want to party in it all night long. –Carman Tse
Published: 09/03/2008
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