Attention Deficit Disorder Record Reviews – May 2014

ADMIRAL SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVELL – Check ‘Em Before You Wreck ‘Em

Uglier in a catsuit than the rest of Rise Above’s roster, not metal but definitely heavy, downright nasty sounding. Fun! (8)

BRODY DALLE – Diploid Love

A welcome return for our favorite punk rock mom, but the occasional drum machine and mariachi brass take some of the bite off. “Don’t Mess With Me” sounds just like her hubby jamming with NIN. (7)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – American Beauty EP

He’s The Boss. Even when not in top form he gets an easy seven. (7)

CARLENE CARTER – Carter Girl

Just like Rosanne Cash, Carlene made a fantastic country album in 2014 so there’s definitely something to be said for growing up in the Johnny Cash/June Carter household. BE WARNED: On a couple of tracks she sounds exactly like Nashville’s answer to Vicky Leandros. (8)

CHUCK E. WEISS – Red Beans & Weiss

You’ve got to like Chuck E. I mean, how can you not like him, he’s like Tom Waits’ wisecracking surrealist older brother. If he was a movie he’d be “The Big Lebowski” as done by the Marx Brothers. (7)

CIRCLE – Leviatan

Listening to this makes me want to smash an acoustic guitar on someone’s head and then shove a dozen drum brushes up his ass while screaming obscenities at him in a strange Scandinavian language. (5)

FU MANCHU – Gigantoid

Last time I played anything like this I was in a 90’s dorm room rolling a blunt, I accidentally spilled the dimebag contents and then spent the next two years on my knees trying to pick the damn stuff out of the carpet. (7)

FUTURE – Honest

Hyped-up hip-hop guy with plenty of skills, famous guests, and that really annoying Kanye auto-tune voice thing. (7)

GARBAGE & BRODY DALLE – Girls Talk

Not only is Shirley Manson beginning to look worryingly like Marilyn Manson, but the A side of this 7-inch is dark and hard and grungy and almost industrial and kicks some serious ass too. (8)

JACK BRUCE – Silver Rails

Claims he was influenced by Earth on this album, his voice suggests he just crawled out of it. He can still come up with a decent blues tune though. (6)

PARKER MILLSAP – Parker Millsap

Sometimes sounds like a trailer-park redneck Jeff Buckley. This is a good thing. Great, in fact. Fantastic. (9)

PLANET OF ZEUS – Vigilante

Last time I played anything like this I was in a 90’s dorm room rolling a blunt… Oh wait, you’ve heard this one before? (7)

RODNEY CROWELL – Tarpaper Sky
What I love about great country music: No gimmicks, just songs. Real ones. And no god-awful band names. I’ll take Rodney Crowell over indie rock hipster charlatans anyday. (8)

SWANS – To Be Kind

Definitely not for people with Attention Deficit Disorder. Give me a couple of months to digest and I’ll get back to you. (∞)

THE EXPLOSION – Red Tape EP

What else is there to say, this 3-song EP is 8 minutes of punk rock perfection. (10)

WOVENHAND – Refractory Obdurate

Maybe he’s a fun guy, I don’t know. But he still sounds like he hasn’t had a laugh in the last thousand years. (7)