Pussy Galore- SUGARSHIT SHARP ep (Matador Records, 1998)

Matador Records did the world a great service in 1998 when they reissued all of the P.G. records. As cool as i thought the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was when they first came on the scene in the early 90's I still never thought they held a candle to P.G. Most of their records were issued on Caroline Records and while my favorite full-length of theirs was RIGHT NOW! (which came out before this) this EP was just as hot and maybe hotter as they had streamlined their songs into these garage punk nuggets with plenty of hooks and Spencer's classic, trashy howl. Longtime guitarist Neil Hagerty wasn't in the band when this was recorded but replacement Kurt Wolf stepped in and ably filled his shoes (Spencer and Julia Cafritz also played guitar and ex-Sonic Youth guy Bob Bert was on drums, no bassist). The records starts off with two covers: an earth-shaking cover of German industrial band Einsturzende Nuebaten's "Yu Gung" and a tweaked reading of Devo's "Penetration in the Centerfold." Next up is one of the band's greatest moments , the driving, forceful "Handshake", followed up by the slurry stumble of "Adolescent Wet Dream." Tune five, Sweet Little Hi-Fi" , takes no prisoners while "Brick" speeds up some old blues riff and scores a strike (no spare needed). The record ends with another near-perfect burner in "Renegade." After this the band released a few other (lesser) records and then called it a day. These days Spencer is in Heavy Trash, Bob Bert occasionally publishes the great BB GUN zine (and is most likely in a band or four) and Julia Cafritz is in Free Kitten (andposts daily on Facebook) and I think Kurt Wolf is missing in action but the four oF them made pure magic on SUGARSHIT SHARP.

The Summer Hits- BEACHES AND CANYONS: 1992-'96 (X-mas Records)

not sure how many folks out there remember the summer hits. they weren't around for very long and i'm not sure how many live gigs they ever played (and of the ones they did play, i'm assuming most of them were in the l.a. area....years ago i asked josh at no life records if they were ever going to tour and his reply was, "well, they'd like to but rex does wayyyyy too much acid for that to happen"). and there you have it....but something about this band's tweaked fuzz pop just did it for me. they released a handful of 7"s (i own 3 or 4) and then.....vanished. lucky us though....we have this comp that was released on the defunct x-mas label (run by the rademaker brothers, darren and brent, of further/the tyde/ beachwood sparks fame). oh, wait...let me introduce the band, summer hits was rex "tartarex" thompson on bass/vocals, darren "daddy d." rademaker (from the tyde/further) and josh "warm summer vibe" schwartz who was also in further and and the early version of beachwood sparks but seems to be m.i.a. these days). rex was certainly an interesting individual. he came up to santa rosa once when i booked further in the mid-90's and we chatted for a long time. picture a 6' 4" dude with a shag haircut (think florence henderson) , groovy 60's clothing and a voice that was equal parts jeff spicoli, austin powers and bunker spreckles and you'll be in the ballpark. oh wait, you want to know about the music on this cd? fuzzed out pop nuggets with some of the most oddball lyrics around (sample: "my friend kelly digs the right music, she hates the pigs but never gets busted, ooh yeah, she's a stony creation sha la la la" from the song "Stony Creation"). other song titles include: "carmel feelin'", "groovier drugs", "honey machine", "moto-guzzi" and plenty of others. i'd say it's in your best interest to find this cd. do whatever you need to do: comb records stores, spend hours on ebay, ask darren or brent when it's going to be reissued , just, please, don't steal my copy.