VR SEX - Human Traffic Jam - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The latest by Andrew Clinco's acid punk alias VR S*x takes it's title from an architectural phrase but more importantly refers to the warped, wicked underworld the songs both chronicle and condemn. Donning the moniker Noel Skum - an acerbic anagram of Elon Musk - Clinco vents his scorn for and fascination with the seedy, surreal margins of low-life Los Angeles, doomed to dead ends of vanity, lust, and technology. Although initially launched as an outlet for Inchheavier soundsInch beyond Clinco's duties in new wave fantasists Drab Majesty, the project has ripened into a compelling exercise in world building, weaving themes of gritty city neo- futurist sleaze within a framework of driving, distorted guitars and cathode-blasted synths. Echoes of Chrome, Wire, Minimal Man, and Sisters Of Mercy ripple through the collection but ultimately Rough Dimension charts it's own twisted vision of Inchour unforgiving reality.InchWritten and demoed across two weeks alone in a Marseille flat using his prized 1980's Gibson InchInvaderInch and a laptop, Clinco then took the tracks to Strange Weather studios in Brooklyn to record with Ben Greenberg (Uniform, The Men) who helmed 2019's debut, Human Traffic Jam. The results are notably ripping, refined, and riveting. Riffs in alternate tunings chug and churn over mid-tempo drums punctuated by spikes of sci-fi electronics while the vocals swagger and spit venom (Inchwhere we walk is also where we S**t / but if we bark at our reflections are we hypocrites? / impulses bleed right into our seed / where hate culminates the apple rotted on the treeInch). It's a bristling mix of the melodic and the macabre, absurdist observations of fast living and desperate measures, the clock of youth ticking towards midnight as dreams unravel in Babylon.VR S*x's specialty is making these cautionary tales of psychic decay and tainted love a thrill rather than a

Following 2022's Rough Dimension LP, Noel Skum - aka Andrew Clinco of Drab Majesty - made the radical leap of expanding his psychedelic post-punk vehicle VR S*x into a fully collaborative five-piece band. To christen the new group's camaraderie, they booked a block of studio time in Glassell Park, swapped skeletal iPhone demos, and Inchdid that classic thing of a band making the exact record they want without any interference.Inch Working 12-hour days, they banged out the basics in a week, then tracked the rest over a month, fine-tuning it with flourishes, FX, and amplifier experiments. Hard Copy is the result - 10 tracks of sneering psychedelic punk streaked with Chrome-damaged freak-outs and snotty power pop harmonies chronicling S*x doll love affairs and glue-sniffing fatales. Mixed by guitarist Mike Kriebel - an accomplished engineer with dozens of credits across the punk, goth, and garage underground - the album is dense, rich, and spatial, spurred by Clinco's muse of Inchreckless abandon.Inch Shadows of Chrome, Stickmen With Rayguns, Japanese psych, and loud-quiet-loud grunge anthems flicker here and there, but ultimately VR S*x's mode is more sardonic and saturated, oscillating between ripped leather riffing and space echo meltdowns. Banning plug-ins was a mission statement, with most instruments tracked direct into the board, then guitars added via a daisy chain of amplifiers, panned and mixed and matched for maximum intoxication InchMy goal is always to load up every take with as much sound as possible in one pass.InchLyrically, the record revisits the project's perennial fascinations twisted lust, cheap thrills, dirty money, doomed delinquents, and ruined romance amid the creeps and cracked dreamers of gritty city voids. The title refers to the uncanny valley between Inchfacsimile and the real thing, and the illusion that one is better than the other - whe

A great performance recorded live in Paris, La Chapelle Des Lombards, in 1979. Luther was a master of Chicago style electric blues. Notes (CD Re- ) 'After his first celebrated appearance in Europe on the Montreux Jazz Festival, Luther started touring Europe constantly, before he settled down in Paris. During his tour in 1979 a sold-out-show in Paris was recorded, and released on 2 LPs (Blue Silver/Pläne) as 'Live In Paris' and 'Live'. 'Live In Paris' documents his first great success on Vinyl in Europe over 50,000 copies were sold as Luther enjoyed a reputation as a outstanding live - performer. (This CD includes both LPs !).In the late 70s James Solberg, who had a substantial contribute to Luther's success in Europe and his comeback in the US, already accompanied him on rhythm guitar (and co - songwriter).In 1979 the blues took the features of a face, that of Luther Allison. The primary value of this recording, his first live album, is to make one feel Luther Allison's musical abilities, as well as the intensity and generosity of his live performances. You can also find the memories of the privileged moments - maybe a few seconds when you feel, when you know, that Luther shuts his eyes and opens his soul... At that moment, his guitar no longer speaks to you, it cries... and it's tears are blue.'Jean Cabot, Rock and FolkLive in Paris was recorded in the late '70s, shortly before Luther Allison decided to leave America for France because the U.S. blues scene was faltering. And, as Live in Paris attests, Allison was at his best when he played straight blues with a bit of a wild, electric edge. The album isn't perfect by any means, but there's energy and fire to his playing that holds your attention throughout the record.Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine