Dead Moon “Strange Pray Tell” 1992/2013 reissue on Mississippi Change Records. Garage punk/punk blues from Portland, Oregon; Strange Pray Tell was the band’s 5th studio LP. Dead Moon was active from ’87 to ’06; band members Fred Cole and Andrew Loomis both died about 10 years after the band’s dissolution. Strange Pray Tell is sparse, lo-fi garage punk (and mastered in mono), with touches of Americana country blues, some tracks more heavy on the Americana than others like “13 Going on 21” and “Love Comes Once.” I prefer the more punk orientated tracks like the 60’s garage rock inspired opener “Fire in the Western World,” the ass-shaking Southern fried “Going South,” and the driving beat of “Don’t Look Back.” I also like the darker punk blues influenced “Room 213” which is reminiscent of the Dead Boys “Ain’t it Fun.” There’s one cover: The Rolling Stones’ “Play With Fire” which is super-raw, sung slightly out of tune and I can’t decide how I feel about that one.

And one from 1992!!!

Taxi Girls “Coming Up Roses” 2023. Wild Honey Records. 5 song EP from Montreal punks; their debut release. Fun fun girl punk: Ramones meets The Go Go’s with some growling spice. SO good! Sharp, short and edgy, with just five songs it’s a quick listen. All the tracks are great, but of the five my top picks are the grab you by the throat ass-shaking opener “After Effect” and “Hands Off” which is anthemic grrrl power – “keep your hands away from my body!” to a relentlessly driving bass and beat. Both “Sunshine” and the closer “Stay With Me” lean power pop/punk (both would feel very at home on the Dirtnap label) with 60’s pop vibes, complete with ooo ooo’s and harmonies. Since the three-piece group just formed a couple of years ago, there isn’t much out there about them. From their Bandcamp single (released a couple of months ago) “Rainy” page: “This past year, Taxi Girls shared stages with such notable acts as NOBRO, NOFX (final tour), Lagwagon , The Hives, Pansy Division – just to name a few. Iggy Pop played a pair of Taxi Girls tracks on his BBC 6 radio show in the UK.” Not sure if they will be touring the States anytime soon (you know, the Canada stuff 🙄) but hoping to catch them live sometime soon.

Flipper “Album-Generic Flipper” 1982. Subterranean Records. Noise punk, Flipper’s debut LP and considered one of the best punk releases from the 80’s. Very influential to the punk/grunge rockers of the late 80’s/90’s: Buzz from the Melvins counts it in his top 5, Kurt Cobain ranked it in his top 50; Krist Novoselic even joined the band in 2006. I can also personally attest that Judah Bauer (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) and his brother Donavon (20 Miles, w/Judah) listened to Flipper at their parents’ house in the mid-80’s and it may have had an impact on the Bauer bros sound.

Generic is mostly sludgy and sloooowww for punk, especially considering the early 80’s California punk sound which was, decidedly, not. Compared to their contemporaries, Flipper’s tracks are epic in length. The dirgey, head-banging (slowly) “(I Saw You) Shine” clocks in at well over 8 minutes. Usually I’d get bored but the bass line is kinda great and there’s some pretty good guitar licks. Also epic is “Sex Bomb” (just under 8 minutes), one of Flipper’s most well-known tracks. Flipper released that song as a single in ’81 and recorded a new version for Generic. One reviewer says about “Sex Bomb” – “[it’s] the closest thing ’80s punk ever created to the beer-fueled genius of the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie,” and a song with a great beat that you just can’t dance to.” It even has saxophone! Also great is “Way of the World,” which actually is a bit danceable, if totally nihilistic (lyrics include “There are hearts no longer beating, And there’s entrails still on the floor. That’s the way of the world.”), “Life” which has a Gen-X shrug about…life, and punk blues-riff laden “Nothing” which is actually an ass-shaker, though sloppily so. “Living for the Depression” is really the only high-speed punk song on the LP and it’s a real ripper for Flipper.