Couch Potato Sounds

It's no secret that the small takeover has a soft spot for two piece garage bands who aren't the white stripes. Here's a UK duo who go by the name of King Kool. They've solved Jon Spencer's marriage problems by marrying the sound of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with the psychobilly rock of The Cramps. Check out their video to their single, "Rocket Roll" below.








Dot Dash are no strangers to this blog as the Washington DC band have released two great power pop albums in two years and both albums contain a faster track.  On their latest album, they punked it up with a Buzzcocks style track entitled, "A Light in the Distance".



It's always been difficult not to mention the Dissociates whenever Dot Dash are discussed on this blog due to both bands sharing a post-punk style.  Here's the London post-punk or post hardcore in the song "Three Years" which features footage from their tour of the Ukraine.







This post started with a duo so I'll end it with number two.  New Zealand industrial duo, Dying of The Light made a video to the title track of their "Monolithium" EP.  The video is bleak and captures the isolation of the bottom of the world in post-apocalyptic style.  There are nods to Godflesh, as well as NZ bands such as The Skeptics and "Churn" period Shihad.  The band's EP contains a Shihad cover.  Check out the EP here  and watch the video below.

D youtube pop and punk bands

First up DC band Dot Dash who I keep seeing compared to The Jam but in this particular tune I hear a lot of The Cure.



And at Safety Second hailing from the other side of the Atlantic, The Dissociates from London.

The Dissociates - Waiting for the Backlash

When you do a music blog and provide an email address, there are consequences. If I added up all of the times I've won a million dollars from some random spam, I'd own this whole damned world, a few of the smaller planets and let's not even get started on the fact that my male appendage should smash rocks. Then being a music oriented blog, there are the publicists, who often don't even bother to read the blog and send you details about every rap and crap-pop album that their latest pretty young thing has recorded.

When Ned from the English band, the Dissociates contacted me, there was an immediate sense of dread mixed with curiosity. Luckily the emotion that kills cats won out, largely due to their description of being "post-hardcorey" because the Dissociates play tight post-punk with a sense of urgency. These guys could travel back in time and easily have a track placed on the "Urgh! A Music War" compilation. An unmistakable English sensibility traverses through "On The Motorway" and "Welcome to London". The latter could easily be commentary of the recent election debacle- "They say you're never two steps from a rat, round here we're a little closer than that.......Welcome to London where nothing ever happens, until it's too late".

There's a fear of urban decay in "Welcome to the Motorway" - "There was this girl who thought she'd never die, she ate organic every day, she lived with the birds, the flowers and sky but she's got nowhere left to play". The final song slows precedings down falling somewhere between Billy Bragg's solo material, Velvet Underground and 70's Bowie. It's the weakest track here but it has five great songs to contend with.

I have other music to review but I keep going back and listening to the potent songs on their site with the hunger of a drug fiend looking for a magical fix. The Dissociates ep can be streamed or downloaded for free here and if you have any interest in post-punk at all, this EP should be on your playlist.

4/5