ALBUM REVIEWS

Messer Chups CRAZY PRICE IPECAC / SOUTHERN RECORDS Out Now @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Crazy price! I’d pay more than whatever they want for this! Mental! Me like! A crazy kitsch mash up of funky sixties-style go-go beat with vampire flicks, monster movies and low-budget sci-fi. It’s the trash-aesthetic of The Cramps in a go-go style instead of a rockabilly punk one (though rockabilly beats show their hand too). Of course, the band claim to be from Russia and Germany and, with the truth nowhere in sight, who cares? This is silliness, pure and not so simple. It’ll make you feel dangerously cool if you listen to it on the bus or in the street. It’ll make you drive too fast and it’ll have you cutting a rug at home. There are oodles of twangy guitar, snatches of hammy bi-lingual dialogue, bits of surf, a tiny snippet of techno, a jamboree of camp and random screams and laughs. I don’t care if this is manufactured to look authentic, or that it can never sound to have been cut from whole cloth – the intention of this electronic slab of retro-futuro beat is fun and it succeeds. Five videos of cut up horror movies and snaps of 50’s B-movie queen Betty Page are more than welcome, since they are mostly different tracks to the album. Ross McGibbon www.southern.net Check the latest gig reviews. Email Links & Comments to the editor. We are always on the look out for music journalists who want to cover gigs, albums, singles and interviews. If you are interested, send your details along with a piece of your writing to Ross@Vanguard Online.