Buckaroo Banzaï – Lost
Who are we leaving punk music to? That’s a question we should be asking ourselves whenever one or a few bands get successful on their own merits and a crowd of copycats piles in trying to steal some of the attention.
Sure, everyone remembers Sex Pistols and The Clash, but the original punk scene was dominated by shouty lads like the ones in Sham 69. Yeah, people in the ‘90s liked Rancid, but were often stuck with nofx. The list goes on.
And, now that moody, gloomy post-punk has been having a revival, scenes are dominated by lonely, creative types, but by lads from London shouting about how their lager’s getting warm. These are the people who, no doubt, in a few years will be the football hooligans terrorising Europe’s highways. Who are we leaving post-punk to?
I’m happy to report that Buckaroo Banzaï is a French band fighting long and hard for the aforementioned “lonely and creative” stereotype. With their single “Lost,” they create unfriendly, nearly impenetrable post-punk music that feels more like the soundtrack to be used in an art gallery of abstract painting rather than in a pub fight. I’d much rather stick with this and let Buckaroo Banzaï be the standard.
Southbound Snake Charmers – 1000 Cuts
There are albums that you can find in any music store. There are records that get written about habitually in the Culture section of any important (internet) newspaper, and the people who were responsible for that music, alive, safe, and sound, are invited to give interviews every few months.
And, while that’s sweet and all, it’s also enough to make you want to dig deep for the music that record stores never concerned themselves with, made, typically, by bands who never hung around for more than a record, and whose band members are, generally speaking, dead or nursing some terrible chemical addiction.
Evil-sounding garage-rock is a niche interest in itself and, thankfully, a thing of fascination for bands like Southbound Snake Charmers. Here’s a group that’s gathered up all the venom (pun intended!) of the aforementioned style, and somehow lived to tell a tale of longevity.
It’s not exactly a retro obsession that drives Southbound Snake Charmers by the sound of it. Nah, judging by the single “1000 Cuts,” it’s an interest in a kind of rowdy, fun, exciting rock n’ roll sound that was too dangerous for big-time record companies and their flunkies to promote. Cartoonishly violent and with guitar riffs that groan like engines off old muscle cars, “1000 Cuts” will feel like quite a find for those looking for music that record stores (the ones that still exist) would prefer to avoid.
