Having a little bother with the motivation at the minute. I’ve been watching Season Two of Entourage and The Sopranos when I should probably be blogging. E2 I got from Mr H as a loaner, what a great show. Still having problems with e-mail and non-delivery or whatever. I don’t have the means of investigating the condition any further. I’m burned out on it. Truth be told I’m burned out on a lot of things but let's make inroads into what’s been happening sonically inside the bunker of late.

Missing The Scientists recent shows around Europe was a bit of a pisser. Still, you cannae always get what you want and all that. I found some solace in the mini-album by Boris Sujdovic entitled "Fuzz Machine" just released by the Basque Country based Bang imprint. If Philip Spector produced the aforementioned Rev and Vega with sundry Scientist and Cramp flavourings then this could have been the result. It out Stooges "The Weirdness" by a muckle mile and beats The Mary Chain at their own game. Absolutely relentless. Doktor Avalanche evidently has a cousin down under yonder and ol’ Boris is David Essex from the darkest side imaginable. Bang has also issued Salmon, a mega-slab of guitar orchestration which should be played loud enough to strip paint.

Hanging in with Australia, Capital City’s “Bad Money” kicks off with a glammish stomp that recalls The Reigning Sound in “Let’s Throw Our Love Away”. This latest In-Fidelity crew tweak all the right nipples and I bet these songs really fly when performed onstage. They’re almost too big for just a tiny cd. “Come On and Work For The Lord” conjures up a Gun Club vibe in a way that you’ll have to hear to believe. Want to hear the ides of “Heroin” turned into a folk-rocker? Then check out “Beggar Please”. The Capital City moniker really hides these folks light under a bushel and they swing with that considerable charm that made Stoneage Romeos so special to us.

My Buddy Moose are from Croatia and their album on dancing Bear was produced by the great Dalibor Pavičić of The Bambi Molesters. It’s like Lloyd Cole fronting Loaded era Velvets channelling some Greg Cartwright sound-craft. There are several folk elements and also accordion also and it all combines to create a somewhat unique yet familiar stew. Any group that has the balls to call an original song “Heartbreak Hotel” and better yet pull it off, has to be doing something right. Check ‘em out on myspace if you feel you’re having your chain yanked. (Thanks to Bigor for hooking me up with this)

The Micragirls “Feeling Dizzy Honey” will feed any ongoing jones for gal garage kicks. It drives long like a three-wheeled jalopy with a primal thrust you just don’t hear too often. Organ charged, fuzzed up and frugging ready for anything – these three Finnish ladies look like butter wouldn’t melt. But, looks can be deceiving and whatever they’re taking to work up this frenzied ruckus probably isn’t available on any prescription. “My My Micraboy” would have made Joey Ramone smile, can you think of a higher accolade? Low on fi but big on spirit and heart, check ‘em out on Bone Voyage Recordings.

Similarly no frills is Thee Fine Lines “Set You Straight” which sounds like it was made to be blasted out of a transistor radio. Not one of those digital things that are becoming all the rage. Once again, I don’t recognise the comparisons with Billy Childish. There’s not a whiff of the impressionism that pervades much of that guys work. I feel kind like BC is the opposite side of the Paul Weller coin, this 3-piece on the other hand deliver short sharp jolts of primo garage-punk not unlike our own Thanes. Based in Skele-country - Springfield, Mo – they have that extra edge that evidently comes from whatever is put in the water there. Lou Whitney once told me it was “the buckle on the bible belt”. If that’s the case they sure have a way with the devils music. Available now on cd and vinyl from Licorice Tree.