Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction
We Are Volsung
SPV/Steamhammer

Dripping with pure gonzo rock action, Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction have endured decades of decadence, befouling the sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll idiom with a more dangerous brand of sex, far deadlier drugs, and a nastier, sleazier style of rock n’ roll. Led by the tattooed beat messiah himself, Mark Manning, artist, wordsmith, and debauched raconteur, and guitarist Cobalt Stargazer, the Duffy to Manning’s Astbury, Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction have earned a cult following by pushing a larger than life libido up the tailpipe of any teenage runaway (girl or boy…they don’t discriminate) hungry for a backseat education. We Are Volsung then, the band’s sixth full-length, is every bit the riff riot you’ve come to expect from these vaudeville villains, liquor-drenched, leather-chapped viking rock, hard charging and chest thumping, with more of a nod to Norse mythology than back alley hi-jinx. Man, with classic, unbeatable songs like the title track, “Stark Von Oben,” “We Ride,” and “White Trash,” as well as the mean-boned rattlesnake slide of “Kill A Mockingbird,” who cares if Turbonegro ever gets their shit sorted out. And if you’re worried that Manning and Stargazer might be getting long in the tooth, don’t, because they continue to surround themselves with young destroyers with names like Jack Shitt and The Cat, and they can still sink each one of their pearly switchblades deep into your flesh and make you love every minute of it.

Listen to “We Are Volsung” from We Are Volsung!

Biters
Biters 10″ EP
Underrated Records

From The Heart Attacks to Poison Arrows to Biters, the long road of rock n’ roll glory for singer/guitarist Tuk has been littered with trashy riffs, drug problems, and dead ends. The usual suicide story that sticks to every tight-pant Thunders junkie like a safety pin on a worn out leather jacket lands a lot closer to sad than success, but if the stigma doesn’t kill ya, it can only make you stronger, right? Probably, which is why Tuk hopes his latest bubblegum machine, Biters, will break through the bastard cliches and avoid the inevitable burst that comes when you sink your teeth into the cheap, sticky solution of reckless days and wasted nights. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but for now our springboard is this self-titled EP, and goddamn it if it’s not screamin’ at me like a gaggle of teenage groupies. With the five deliciously catchy glam punk ditties on board here, I don’t know how the Biters are ever going to avoid burnin’ out in the gutter like a bunch of high school dropouts. This is some magic marker mayhem, man, part Cheap Trick power pop, part New York Dolls lipstick rock, and all jukebox jive. If the Biters aren’t the biggest band in the world real soon, we’re all doomed.

Check out the Biters performing “Hang Around”!

Two of the worst things to happen on (and to) TV in the last little while have been Conan O’Brien losing The Tonight Show and the announcement that Flight of the Conchords would not be returning for a third season. Forget what Kanye did to Taylor Swift; we’re talking real TV tragedies here, folks. Sadly, we’re gonna have to wait at least seven months before we can watch O’Brien again, but if it’s an FOTC fix you’re jonesing for, I suggest you wait patiently for Gentleman Broncos to come out, go watch Eagle vs. Shark again, or get your hands on this New Zealand comedy horror flick, Diagnosis: Death. Now before you get too excited, there’s actually very little of Bret McKenzie, Jemaine Clement, and Murray Hewitt (Rhys Darby) in Diagnosis: Death (Bret takes the lion’s share of screen time between the three, with Jemaine and Rhys playing very minor parts), but even a little bit of all three is worth a look-see.

(more…)