Bulletproof Lovers - Bulletproof Lovers
If you missed that lethal combo of MC5-esque full-tilt kablammo and jukebox-ready pop hooks popularised by the long-gone Hellacopters, then prepare to wipe away your dumb crybaby tears. Because these tight-panted señors from Madrid are doling out some seriously top-shelf huff an’ scruff on this rip-snorting debut.
Bulletproof Lovers are a continent-spanning collaboration between American frontman/no-goodnik Kurt Baker (The Leftovers, New Trocaderos) and the cream of the Spanish punk’n’roll scene, and together they’ve crafted the finest action-rock record since whenever it was when you gave up wearing leather pants. Opener It’ll Be Alright sets the pace with its late-70s power-pop hooks. It’s big, swaggering, death-or-glory guitars, and you are locked in for an all-night rocker from there. I mean, you get it, right? It’s cool and it’s catchy, and you can dance to it. None of us are rocket scientists around here. (8⁄10)
Zip-Tie Handcuffs - Headspace
Far-out furry freak brothers from the Crab Nebula (by way of Boston), this grungadelic power trio unfurl thick, ropy wads of blistering space-garage fuzz-rock with such bleary-eyed abandon that I’m assuming they are already dead and are floating above our heads like stoned ghosts. If this record was a pill, you’d be absolutely nuts to take it. But you would. (7⁄10)
Wicced Sara - Pure Wicked 6
Revisionist history makes heroes out of madmen, especially when it comes to rock’n’roll (see Hasil Adkins or Syd Barrett for reference). So in 50 years Pure Wicked 6 will probably be a cult classic. But for now, Wicked Sara’s one-man “cosmic hillbilly rock” just sounds like a panicky lunatic trapped in his attic. (2⁄10)
Tyler Keith & The Apostles - Do It For Johnny
I like when something’s from Mississippi and you believe that 100 per cent, right from the start. Tyler Keith & The Apostles sound like they’re guzzling moonshine straight from the still and shooting guns at coyotes right this very second. Sad and vicious and heroic all at once, Do It For Johnny is as pure as rock’n’roll gets. (8⁄10)
The Prehistorics - Storm The Gates
If it was up to me, every Australian rock’n’roll band would sound like Rose Tattoo. Maybe even every band in general. Sydney’s Prehistorics are obviously down with my plan. Stripped-down and bare-knuckled, this is raw-an’-ready riff rock, the perfect soundtrack for your next black eye. (6⁄10)
