Buzzcocks – Queen City Sounds and Art

Kaksipäinen Koira (in English, Two-Headed Dog) is a supergroup group Finland signed to All That Plazz that includes guitarist/singer Tero Huotari (Teksti-TV 666, HÄN and Kuusamo) and drummer/vocalist Aliisa Keränen (Bad Sauna, Lala Salama), “Kuolema voittaa aina” (“Death Always Wins”) with bassist/singer Otto Pekkola rounding out the live lineup. Its debut single “Kuolema voittaa aina” (“Death Always Wins” in English) is short (two minutes six seconds) but begins with a charging rhythm like a Reatards song inspired by Buzzcocks with a fuzzy melody and call and response vocals before shifting gears just over half way through to a more introspective and atmospheric feel with the previously urgent pace slowed to something more leisurely. The production is appropriately lo-fi but the range of sounds and in so economic a fashion points to promising material ahead for the new project. Listen to “Kuolema voittaa aina” on YouTube and connect with Kaksipäinen Koira, possibly a sly Roky Erickson reference, at the links below.

Kaksipäinen Koira on Bandcamp

Kaksipäinen Koira on Instagram

Mononegatives, photo courtesy the artists

If Buzzcocks dirtied up their sound a little and shot it through with buoyant synth melody and distilled a song to its essential minute thirty-six it might sound a little like “Television Funeral” by Mononegatives. There’s something gritty and lo-fit, even gloriously amateurish to the production on the song but its energy is infectious like when Wire cut to the chase on every song on Pink Flag or POW! gone even more punk but seeming to draw upon the sensibilities of another era and bringing to it some new vitality, a collision between New Wave and punk to produce a sound that was never supposed to be reconciled back in the day but absolutely can now without cultural betrayal or irony. Or not too much irony. Listen to “Television Funeral” on Spotify where you can hear the rest of the new Mononegatives album Crossing the Visual Field and follow the band at the links provided.