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The Notwist “News From Planet Zombie”

sfilzen — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 18:01:05 +0000

The Notwist “News From Planet Zombie” 2026. Marr Music. Limited edition indie record store orange vinyl variant. Even though it’s been two months since we were in Berlin, I’m still slogging through our vinyl haul from that trip. We picked up The Notwist’s latest LP upon the recommendation of the very odd record store owner (33rpm Records); I have never heard of this Munich-based band but they’ve been around for a LONG time. From their Bandcamp page: “The Notwist, formed in 1989, then consisting of Martin Messerschmidt, and brothers Micha and Markus Acher — released their self-titled debut album on Subway Records a good thirty years ago [in 1991], a unique tightrope walk between melodic independent, metallic rock and explosive hardcore parts…” Their most recent release News From Planet Zombie certainly doesn’t have any hardcore but it is really really lovely, leaning heavily into the melodic indie pop vibe (“The Turning” feels super early aughts alt/college radio: lo-fi angular jangle with some retro xylophone-esque bleep-bloops that eventually descend into a bit of a rager), though some tracks do rock out, like “X-Ray” plus there’s some indie grit on “Who We Used to Be” as well. The Notwist cover Neil Young’s “Red Sun” and it’s a shimmering atmospheric delight. They also cover the Lovers 2009 “How the Story Ends” – a band and song I do not know but Bandcamp tells me they are indie folk-pop group hailing from Portland, Oregon by way of Athens, Georgia and Notwist’s version is great: the lyrics on News From Planet Zombie are all sung in English and I could really only hear any obvious German accent on that cover and musically it is exceptionally layered; landing both sweet pop and experimental art rock. For all of 33rpm Record dude’s weirdness, he certainly steered us in a good direction with this album.

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Oddfellows “Oddfellows”

sfilzen — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:44:56 +0000

Oddfellows “Oddfellows” 2026. Dirtnap Records, Green Noise exclusive clear vinyl variant. Texas OG punks reunited! The band first got together in ’94, played a bit, sort of split into a zillion (famous) pieces and have now reformed for their first LP (they did put out a 7″ in ’95). Oddfellows features Chris Pulliam (The Reds, High Tension Wires) on guitar, bass and vocals; Mark Ryan (The Reds, The Marked Men, High Tension Wires, O-D-EX, Radioactivity, Mind Spiders) also on guitar, bass, and vocals; and Mike Throneberry (The Reds, The Marked Men, Mind Spiders, Mazinga Phaser, Stumptone) on drums and vocals. Meaning we’ve seen Ryan and Throneberry play at least a couple of times at Dirtnap Fests since a few of those bands are also on the Dirtnap label. Oddfellows is punchy poppy garage punk, exactly the Dirtnap vibe, and it’s great! SO many bangers! The snotty “I Hate Rules,” the messy lo-fi “Late on Love,” the ass-shaking “Eraser,” the jangly and incongruously mod happy/snappy “I Burned Your Lawn,” the odd (but awesome) jangle-grunge of “You’ll Never Get to Mars” (think The Kinks meets Screaming Trees – it’s weird but totally works) – what a fun record!

I cannot find a single live performance of this Oddfellows band (there are other ones out there, a rabbit hole I’m not willing to fall into) so here’s The Marked Men’s full set from Dirtnap Fest 2025 at X-Ray Arcade and yes we were there.

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Avengers “We Are the One”

sfilzen — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:28:59 +0000

Avengers “We Are the One” 1977. Originally released on Dangerhouse Records, this version limited edition repress, blue vinyl on Superior Viaduct. We got to see the first wave SanFran punks last week at their first and most likely last show in Milwaukee on the 49th(!!!) anniversary of their very first show on June 11th 1977. “We Are the One” was the Avengers first single (this 3 song 7″ is considered an EP for whatever reason); all three tracks would appear on their 1983 album Avengers. Besides being an excellent straightforward punk anthem, it also is notable as the first time a West Coast punk band issued music on an independent label (Dangerhouse). They of course played “We Are the One” (video of Thursday’s performance below, recorded by Joe), one of their best-known tracks, plus a slew of other old favorites like “The American in Me” and “White N****r” which they obviously have changed the title and lyrics to (“Gold Digger is it’s new name/lyrics). Also on the 7” is “I Believe in Me” and “Car Crash” which I think they played but honestly I can’t remember at this point.

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The Sleeveens “National Anthem”

sfilzen — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:50:02 +0000

The Sleeveens “National Anthem” 2026. Goner Records, limited edition white vinyl variant. The latest from Dublin/Nashville punks – love these guys! We’ve been fans since even before their debut LP (on Dirtnap Records) was released having gotten the inside scoop from Dirtnap Ken back in late 2023 or early 2024. National Anthem is a raucous garage soaked good time, reminiscent of the 70s punk sound (The Clash, Ramones, Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers — I think two of the Nashville-based band members still do tech for SLF tours – here’s a photo of Sleeven bassist, who also recorded and mixed National Anthem – doing guitar tech before the Stiff Little Fingers set at Punk Rock Bowling in 2024 ): fun, melodic and a bit snotty. There’s even a bit 60s-style girl group energy (which is of course also like the Ramones) meets jangly power pop (think early Elvis Costello) on “My Pretend Girlfriend” and some country twang on the title track “National Anthem” (though it is sarcastic AF). As usual, my top tracks are the bangers like the opener “If I Was a Casual,” “Six Counties Punk” and the snappy “Cowboy Queen.” Despite the album’s name, there’s just one song that I’d describe having an anthemic sound: the hypnotic, driving “Town of Horseheads” that definitely leans into heavy garage psych territory. There’s just one cover on National Anthem – “The Rat” originally by The Walkmen (2004) and since I’m not familiar with that indie rock band I’ll just go ahead and say The Sleeveens version is great.

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Duran Duran “Violence of Summer”

sfilzen — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:42:11 +0000

Duran Duran “Violence of Summer (Love’s Taking Over)” 1990, 12″single. Today, June 8th, is Nick Rhodes’ birthday (b. 1962). Funky “Violence of Summer” was the lead single off of their 1990 LP Liberty: it went to #20 in the UK and to #64 in the US. Honestly (and regretfully) I wasn’t paying much attention to D2 in ’90 so I’m woefully unaware of this single and that LP. This was the time period where both Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor had left the band and Warren Cuccurullo was on guitar and Sterling Campbell was filling in on drums. There were several variants of the single released: this one is the US 12″ with four versions of “Violence” plus “Throb,” a previously unreleased track which is an instrumental remix of “My Antarctica” (also on Liberty). The four remixes are pretty similar: lots of throbbing dance beats, Simon vocal samples, sci-fi(ish) voiceovers, etc. which make it difficult to pinpoint a favorite. The Story Mix is kinda cool as it starts out with Simon doing a beat-poet-like thing which is kinda awesome and hilarious. The Power Mix is super ass-shaking and segues seamlessly into the Dub Mix. I’d say my least favorite (though it’s still good!) is the Rock Mix with the train horns but the beat is crazy infectious and hypnotic which almost balances out the horn blast. The radio single/album track isn’t on the 12″ but it is here:

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The Bags “All Bagged Up”

sfilzen — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 19:49:56 +0000

The Bags “All Bagged Up” the collected works 1977-1980. Artifix Records. Last night we had the immense pleasure of seeing the Alice Bag Band at Anodyne Coffee here in Milwaukee – omg she is still so fantastic: vibrant, intelligent, a great storyteller, lovely but still a pissed off punk at heart. A US punk pioneer, Alice Bag led The Bags, a first-wave L.A. punk band that didn’t really receive the national (underground) attention as they’re LA contemporaries like the Germs and Black Flag. All Bagged Up is a compilation of original Bags that Artifix says is “After years (Literally) of hunting, researching, tracking down and finageling, Artifix is proud to present ALL BAGGED UP…the collected works 1977-1980. This 12″ LP represents everything we could dig up by L.A.’s infamous BAGS.” (from Artifix’s website). On it are The Bags first single “Survive” and “Babylonian Gorgon” which, along with “We Don’t Need the English” and “We Will Bury You” were recorded in 1978 at the Dangerhouse recording studio. Last night “Survive” was the encore (video Joe recorded below) and Alice told a delightful story to introduce “We Don’t Need the English” – former Bags bassist Patricia Rainone (Pat Bag) had married The Damned’s Dave Vanian and while the song was not written about him, the band decided it would be funnier to introduce the song saying it was definitely about him. Four tracks were recorded live at The Masque on February 24th, 1978 – this show just 2 weeks after their debut performance at the Masque (at which The Germs Darby Crash – then going by Bobby Pyn – was there and rushed the stage yanking off the bags from The Bags’ heads). Recorded live in 1979 in Oregon are the songs “7 and 7 is” – a Love cover, “1, 2, 3,” “Gluttony” (which Alice played last night, introducing it as a song written by an original Bags member who suffered from an eating disorder – can’t remember if she said which one but it was one of the guys; this song also appears in The Bags appearance in the 1981 Penelope Spheeris directed concert/documentary film Decline of Western Civilization) plus “In Love with Romance” and “Survive.” There’s also a few studio rehearsal recordings and their first demo “Bag Bondage.” Finding any Bags on vinyl has always been a challenge so having some of their classic tracks compiled in one place has been a long time in coming.

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Drakulas “Midnight City”

sfilzen — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:16:57 +0000

Drakulas “Midnight City” 2026. Dirtnap Records. Green Noise Records red vinyl exclusive. DRAKULAS! I love these guys: their performance was amazing, hysterical and ass-shaking when we caught their set at last year’s Dirtnap Records fest. Midnight City is the side project of the super group’s third full length release…so not really a side project at this point. Composed of Riverboat Gamblers Savage Lord Mic (aka Mike Wiebe) and Sam Fransisco (aka Sam Keir) plus Rise Against and GWAR’s Pink Rick (aka Zach Blair), Midnight City is a rocking, tightly wound good time that mixes hard garage rock, dance rock, indie rock and new wave synthpop. The first tracks on both Side A (“Going Going Gone Gone“) and Side B (“Sex“) have shimmering synths for an updated new wave sound, the latter with a stomping early aughts indie rock beat. Other tracks rock harder, and those are my top picks: the infectious “Singin’ With My Tongue Cut Out,” the garagey “Head in the Clouds,” “Is it Enough” and the hand-clappy dancey “White Off Your Nose.” Wacky describes their live performances (well, I’ve only seen them once but guessing eccentric is generally the vibe for all shows) and that offbeat impulse appears on songs like “Morning/Night” and the insane, wild and high energy “FAFO” (another fave that also has some bleep-bloop action). The whole record is fantastic and I hope a tour is on the horizon.

There aren’t any videos for any of the tracks on Midnight City nor could I find any recent live footage so here’s a link to their set in Dallas, 2025. DRAKULAS!

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Jerry Garcia “Garcia”

sfilzen — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 17:41:22 +0000

Jerry Garcia “Garcia” 1972. Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, some record store or distributer put a hype sticker over the not-at-all offensive breast. I spent a full day in Madison this past weekend; my time at the university there in the late 80’s/early 90’s was heavily soundtracked by the Dead so today I’m taking an aural trip to those hazy college days. While Garcia sings and plays all the instruments – except drums played by the Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann – the LP is full of classic tracks that the full Grateful Dead band would go on to perform in their non-stop touring for the subsequent 20+ years including the single “Sugaree” which went to #94 on the US charts in April 1972; it was Garcia’s only chart single. He also released “The Wheel” as a single but I’m not sure that charted – it’s a really catchy folk/country track. Other Dead show classics include the Americana styled opener “Deal” (one of my old-time faves) and “Loser.” The country twinged lament “To Lay Me Down” shows off both Garcia’s steel guitar and piano talents; I think this one was played somewhat frequently on the road as well. Other tracks have a trippier, psychedelic bent to them like “Bird Song” which was a tribute to the recently-ish deceased Janis Joplin (and was another Dead show staple) and the cosmic freakout weird “Late for Supper,” “Spidergawd” and “Eep Hour” (like during “Space/Drums” I would be taking a bathroom break if they were played at a concert).

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Thompson Twins “A Product of…Participation”

sfilzen — Wed, 27 May 2026 17:45:02 +0000

Thompson Twins “A Product of…Participation” 1981. T Records (the band’s own label). Thompson Twins’ debut LP is way more experimental pop/post punk in sound than their later, more popular new wave synthpop releases. Some ska and African/world beat influences (see especially the opener “When I See You” for ska and both “Slave Trade” and “Oumma Aularesso (Animal Laugh)” for the African sounds, the latter a rearrangement of a traditional Sierra Leone song). Some tracks could have been on contemporary Talking Heads or B-52 records like the weird and rhythmically driving “Make Believe” (it’s a great track). There’s even some dark jangle-pop on “The Price” that feels Cure and Smiths-esque. Thompson Twins released a couple of singles from A Product of… in the UK (there were other singles that were originally stand-alone releases but appear on later reissues of the LP): “Perfect Game,” the aforementioned “Oumma Aularesso (Animal Laugh)” and “Make Believe.” The track “Politics” (very Talking Heads sounding) was released as a single in Germany. With most of my knowledge of Thompson Twins originating with their later, new wave/synthpop work, it’s pretty wild to hear the band’s origins with a way more challenging and experimental sound.

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The Radiators From Space “TV Tube Heart”

sfilzen — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:51:53 +0000

The Radiators From Space “TV Tube Heart” 1977. Chiswick Records. Punky power pop from Ireland. Think a mashup of the Ramones, the Buzzcocks and some mod-ish Jam-like sounds, too: 50’s/60’s-inspired pop sensibility with a snotty garage sound. The band formed in Dublin in ’76 (and have been dubbed Ireland’s first punk band); they shortened their name to The Radiators in 1979 with their second LP release Ghostown. They broke up in 1981 and Radiator frontman Philip Chevron went on to join The Pogues as their lead guitarist. (The band reunited in 2003 and were active until Chevron’s death in 2013). TV Tube Heart was the band’s first LP; three tracks that all skew power pop were released as singles: the opener “Television Screen” — the first and only punk record to make the Irish top 20 – “Sunday World” and “Enemies.” My top picks are the harder punk-leaning rippers: “Press Gang” and “Contact” and the tightly-wound “Electric Shares.” It’s a fantastic record and a shame The Radiators aren’t as well known as their first wave contemporaries.

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