Whacked Out

I recently came across a few totally bizarre, befuddling bands, and man do you all need to hear these guys.

Goose is a club group, but that's an understatement of how talented and creative these guys are. This is old skool funk mixed with a few parts of DFA and 90s techno saints like Orbital. It's like listening to James Brown remixes through a high-speed fan or something ... sputtering and bouncing all over the place. Get down to it over at their MySpace page.
Oh, and nicely designed art, eh? It's like Bauhaus meets Saville or something ... these guys are immersed in roots, that's for certain.

I'm continually impressed by France's musical output. From what I understand, they're experiencing some sort of punk revival there now (uh ... they never really had had it, sorry Plastic ... ), and I guess Fancy is a good case in point. They're not really punk per se -- more like 80s cock rock if anything -- but there's a similar aesthetic there. Loud, brash, almost irritatingly ignorant and dumb, but hey, I like that stuff, and the mixture makes it all the more cool. Check it out at their MySpace page.

The high point of this post is Conan & the Mockasins, a twisted-sounding lo-fi pop group from London. It's like Captain Beefheart meets the Beatles meets any K Records musicians. The mildly demented voice doesn't turn me off, the raggedy drumming keeps me interesting, and the uber-start-stop structure draws me in. A band of contradictions, to say the least, but terribly awesome. Hype them hype them! Head on over to their MySpace page as well!

Goose - Bring It On
Conan & the Mockasins - There Goes Tane
Conan & the Mockasins - Blues
Conan & the Mockasins - Naughty Holidays