Le Club des Chats - 'Yes Madame!' (S-S)

How do you like your quirk?  Thick and with a French accent?  Le Club des Chats dropped this single about four years ago and you'd think it was the reincarnation of Family Fodder.  French kids in their bedroom, I guess, but everyone is making music in their bedrooms these days.  The artwork has housecats shooting laserbeams out of their eyes, and the band name is pretty fucking stupid as well.  You gotta love this approach.  You also gotta love seven songs at 45 rpm; it's not a hardcore record, but it is ferocious, exploding out of the vinyl with 'Master of Toadstool' - though the title is misleading cause this isn't slow mushroom music in the slightest.  The drums are the name of the game, frantically bashing through every song and drowning out the other instruments except for the manic male-female voices that shout over every song.  'Ring-a-Ding' is little more than that phrase repeated over a catchy drum cacophony, but it conjures Renaldo and the Loaf at their most punk rock tendencies.  It's ridiculous and young and strange and great.

Cheveu - 'My Answer is Yes!' (Rob's House)

Another Cheveu single, pairing an album track with a new one, though the a-side is the new tune. Full title: 'My Answer is Yes! But What's the Question?', a blazingly strident display of positivity. It's built around the same Cheveu ingredients we know and love - Big Black's drummer, dirty guitars, white noise, and harsh vocals that are barked/spoken/shouted. This ups the notch a bit with a few actual breakdowns, where the band throws the intensity up for just a few measures, before letting off the throttle ever-so-slightly. It's a nice technique, showing there's a lot more focus than you might suspect upon first listen. It ends in a pile of wires and sweat, with the singer growling his deathmoan. A dark moment, perhaps, but in constrast to the B-side, a different (slightly slower) version of album-favourite track 'Lola Langusta'. Like 'Dog' there's something a bit stereotypical about this guitar riff, something too familiar being deconstructed. This is a soulful tune of pure desire, as our singer pleads for Ms. Langusta to work her sexual magic in his direction. The synth horns aren't here, but there's a great sounding electric piano. This is on a label called Rob's House, and you know, it sounds like it was recorded there too.