OK, the logo is fixed, so I think it's time to declare this weblog OPEN FOR BUSINESS. I'll deal with the links and comments and stuff like that later.. the basics are all set. Here's some discussion of some largely unpopular music to get things rolling:

Right now I'm listening to an album I bought for 99p in a Virgin Megastore clearout sale. It’s 'Knock Loud' by The Paybacks, a Detroit band based around the talents of singer/guitarist Wendy Case, and it's pretty fucking great actually. Far better than I was expecting at any rate. At its best it sounds kind of like the Dirtbombs playing the hits of Cheap Trick with a vocal chord shreddin', 60-a-day smokin' female singer. At its worst it sounds a little bit 'alternative rock' – I blame the unimaginative production - but still way better than, say, Hole or something. They've got that blastin-from-yr-stereo sugar rush garage rock sound down pretty well, and combined with great power-pop tunes, kick ass guitar solos and a singer who sounds like she cleans her teeth with a broken whisky bottle…… a pound well spent!

Another 99p bought me a 7-track ep / mini-album thingy by the currently trendy
Cass McCombs. Unfortunately it's like a dictionary definition of 'dreary', but hopefully I'll be able to sell it to someone for more than 99p when he inevitably becomes a fully fledged floppy fringed shmindie superstar.

On another garage rock tip, a copy of the Mummies' 'Death By Unga-Bunga' is finally in my possession, and it's everything I hoped it would be. Subhumanly trashy (they coin the term 'belo-fi', which I quite like) and wantonly crazed rock'n'roll shit which is just… more so, and yet simultaneously less so, than most of its competitors in the field of crazed rock'n'roll shit.

Things I love about it:
I love the way that the sound mix manages to be both headache inducingly loud and yet of such poor quality that much of the time you can’t discern the lyrics or tell any of the instruments apart. I love the way that '(You Must Fight to Live) On the Planet of the Apes' is the great world-uniting nerd-rock anthem that Man or Astroman? have never quite managed to make. I love the general 'mental kids screaming and banging pot and pans for the hell of it' energy of the whole thing. I love the fact that beneath all the racket and minimalism, the Mummies are an absolutely awesome rock band with killer dancing grooves, great riffs and awesome early Kinks-style guitar solos, who have clearly spent many years carefully absorbing the history of their art, from the greats of the Nuggets-era through to Billy Childish and Guitar Wolf, and are capable of recreating the best bits of it effortlessly. I love the fact that they do barely concealed rip-offs of tunes like 'Psychotic Reaction' and 'Dropout Boogie' and don’t give a damn if we recognise them. I love the fact that they do theoretically mellow organ-based '60s style grooving songs and make them sound homicidally aggressive. And I love the way they do fantastic surf instrumentals that sound like Davie Allen and the Arrows trying to play powertools. Above all, I love the fact that the Mummies fall into that great category also occupied by such diverse groups as Ex-Models and Venom: Pure unashamed party music which is so intense and demented that no right-thinking person would ever dare put it on at a party.

(Thanks to Saveloy for turning me on to the Mummies.)