ELECTRIC SIX – Turquoise

It’s unbelievable to think that ‘Turquoise’ is Electric Six’s nineteenth studio album [or twentieth, if you count the ‘Streets of Gold’ covers collection, which the band don’t seem to, since it wasn’t even mentioned at the gigs played in the month of release, and nothing played from it], but Dick Valentine and his revolving cast of disco-rock oddballs have been cranking out albums year after year. Not that the record buying public or the press have always noticed. What’s more, the bulk of ‘Turquoise’ is great. It isn’t the sound of a veteran band phoning in their musical spoils. It isn’t hacked out product from a band all too readily dismissed as a cheap novelty. Yes, it’s trashy, but always in the best possible way.

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THE LEN PRICE 3 – The Grass Is Always Greener / Man Out Of Time

For a lot of garage rock fans, The Len Price 3 will need very little of an introduction. The trio have been cranking out guitar based sounds since the mid noughties, and are arguably Medway’s best known musical export after Wild Billy Childish. For the uninitiated, their 2007 debut ‘Chinese Burn’ provides the perfect place to jump into their catalogue. Its fifteen tracks show how the band – none of whom are actually called Len Price – are able to strike a perfect blend between high octane 60s inspired sounds and a sweaty musical fury. All the way from opener ‘Christian In The Desert’ – sounding like a wobbly but furious mix of The Kinks and The Hives – through the surf tinged ‘Viva Viva’, to the choppy ‘Chatham Town Spawns Devils’ where the band evoke the same kind of energy as The Jam tearing through the Larry Williams number ‘Slow Down’, the album rarely lets up. Since then, the band have continued to deliver retro tunes with a very high quality threshold.

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BLESSED BLACK – Seasons Vol. 1

Stoner metal band Blessed Black released their first album ‘Beyond The Crimson Throne’ in January 2020, intending to take the underground metal scene by storm. As history has proved, that year’s arrival of a global pandemic and a total shutdown of the live scene meant that any plans had to be rethought. Despite a very tricky couple of years, that release’s commitment to a riff suggested great things ahead for the band, and this EP length follow up more than makes good on that early promise.

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