New Music: Zodiacs, Kavinsky, Der Teenage Panzerkorps

Zodiacs - Messin Up (Holy Mountain 2007)

Zodiacs - Gone / Holy Mountain

I've never been a fan of the desert. I could never connect with my grandfather's love of old west shoot-em-up's, and I always wondered why Spike didn't get just get smart and find himself a comfortable suburban doghouse. Growing up in South Carolina, the desert may as well have been outer space. There was no tangible connection, and despite never having been to the Himalayas either, there seemed to be something more to other settings, something alot less boring than ghost towns and bandits. Becoming a man, though, setting out on my own into the world, I finally got the appeal. One day you wake up fuzzyheaded and more than a little surprised to see you've been stranded deep inside this perilous game we call "life". Much like the loner anti-heroes of the Old West, you've gotta make your own way.

Riding in on hot summer wind, we have Zodiacs, three rough-n-tumble bunkhouse brawlers here to drink your beer and steal your women. These dudes also do time in Hush Arbors, Sunburned Hand, and WW&VV, three key elements of that New Weird America trainwreck. I hate the hoopla over "movements, especially in today's fad-a-minute climate, but I do feel New Weird America is quantifiable, evident here in the burly sludge jams of Gone. Over the course of these four tracks, spanning forty-three minutes, Zodiacs extend a solid hand towards psychedelic rock oblivion. Its altogether a more focused affair than their other projects, showcasing the power of guitar, bass, drums, and most importantly, feedback, to possibly one day defend the Planet Earth from alien invasion.

"Born Free" is a nice welcome to the record. Thick guitar feedback pushing and pulling you, the slow-burning groove of the bassline cementing you in place. To listen closely to this song is like trying to keep the tides from changing with your bare hands. "Messin Up" starts off with a winding, patient guitar solo that would make Eric Clapton cry himself to sleep at night. Its got this outlaw blues feel, whether camping under the stars in 1889 or 1989, its connected to the timeless primal nature of the desert. "Get Off/Come Together" reminds me of Acid Mothers Temple at their single-minded best, its a proper psych rock freakout, taking no prisoners in its search for the sound of the cosmos. Its tough meat to gnaw, but rewarding to say the least. Play this for Burning Man's Weekend Warriors; see how soon they start to roam free, following the Flight of the Eagle as their souls have been set ablaze by the awesome power of Zodiacs.

So now I finally understand the appeal of scorched earth, how guys like Zodiacs can totally rule it. Gone is the aural equivalent of talking the talk AND walking the walk. Its like rolling up on a windswept town, the streets deserted and all the door locked. Its about all the maverick shit I used to think was hokey. In life you've gotta make power moves, take the girl and the money but always maintain a sense of honor.




Kavinsky - Dead Cruiser (Record Makers 2007)

Kavinsky - 1986 EP / Record Makers

Even critics have soft spots. I know I write about Finnish psych folk and other "difficult" music but I'm still buzzing from !!!'s Myth Takes. Those long nights keep on rolling, especially now that the weather down here in Cap City is conducive to porch life, the kind of mellowgold living when there's no excuse not to drink early and often.

So in celebratory spirit, announcing the arrival of spring and the breaking of winter's chains, here is a new EP from undead French playboy, Kavinsky. Raised from the dead by the current technicolor tide of French electro streaming from the Ed Banger and Kitsune camps, Kavinsky is here to bring the party 1986-style to all the potentially saddest nights out in the entire world. If reports are to be believed, Kavinsky bit it nearly twenty years ago in a gnarly wreck. Having totally destroyed his rare Ferrari, Kavinsky was nowhere to be found at the scene of the accident. Kept alive by the sheer power of the finest cocaine and a love for Giorgio Moroder, Kavinsky lived on, only to surface when the time was right. That time is now, post-trendy 80's worship be damned, 1986 is a synthtastic masterpiece.

Following up last year's deft but somewhat raw Teddy Boy EP, this new five-track offering is a gift from Jan Hammer himself, a blessing from the Great Keyboard in the sky, all white ties and 80's decadence. "Dead Cruiser" is bursting with laserbeam synth work, beefing up new wave explorations until the sheer size of sound can go toe-to-toe with the like of Justice. "Grand Canyon" could have scored the crowning film achievement of Jean-Claude Van Damme, a version of Bloodsport with the emotional depth of Hamlet. It seems like Sebastian is holding all the cards right now and he checks in with a sleek remix of Teddy Boy's "Testarossa Autodrive", speeding around hairpin turns in the glitz and glammer of Monaco.

Added this to your "hot night out!!" I-Tunes playlist. You may be partying in a mid-sized southern city but be assured the night will take on a posh vibe. No matter where you are, the jaguar instinct of fast cars and even faster living may usurp your soul. 1986 brings the brashly-boasted party of the mid-80's to the decidedly referential days of '07.




Der Teenage Panzerkorps - Nameless Diseases (Siltbreeze 2007)

Der Teenage Panzerkorps - Harmful Emotions / Siltbreeze

Seems like my reviews this week have been all about time machines, tripping the multiple contingencies of time and space. The music of Der Teenage Panzer Unit (Der TPK, for short) imagines if Himmler would have fronted a punk band. Its a smart maneuver given all the trappings that go with even the smallest hints of Nazism. Its amazing that this type of stunt can fly without mass outrage but such is the interpetive leeway given to art. It seems to me the band's image is more about the danger of nations and group-think mentality that, yes, even finds its way into punk rock.

Specific details about Der TPK are clouded. Context clues lead to an association with the psych-folk purveyors of Jeweled Antler Collective. In fact, enigmatic frontman, Edmund Xavier, is rumored to be Skygreen Leopard's member, Glenn Donaldson. This record's presence on the Siltbreeze label sheds further light on the band's intentions; Siltbreeze has a racism-free track record releasing crucial early material from the Dead C, Charalambides, Ashtray Navigations, and others. So, just to assure you one more time, this is far from Screwdriver. What Der TPK does is take the driving nihilism of early punk and twists it into a blackened war machine wrapped in an evil Third Reich aesthetic that we've all been drilled to despise.

Now that all the idealistic worries have been settled, I can tell you the reasons why you've gotta get your hands on Der TPK's first LP, limited to five-hundred copies on wax. Harmful Emotions is a top-notch punk record, way way smarter than anything today sporting spikes and studs. The recording is excellent, capable of fooling even the most astute punk vinyl fiend into thinking that he may have let one slip through the cracks. There's plenty of lo-fi racket; the murky recording convincing in its authenticity, and the disembodied Germanic vocal diatribes adding to the already heavy atmosphere. All tracks typically cut off around two minutes like any self-aware punk song should. Despite the band's best efforts to evoke tidy fascism, hints of kraut rock and black metal seep through. Okay...so maybe that is still a nod to Aryanism and I'm sorry for doubting how deep and wide this idea actually goes. This is one of the smartest "punk" records in ages, and without the internet's information-grabbing powers, Der TPK's aesthetic would be totally impenetrable.