Via Colin Newman's (head of legendary art punks Wire) ten desert island discs at Pitchfork I found out about McLusky, a Welsh band from Cardiff making very raw, powerful and energetic music between punk and emo with a grain of blues. Besides the Pixies (esp. on Medium Is the Message from McLusky's first album) I hear Jesus Lizard and the New Fast Automatic Daffodils. The lyrics are often rather rude and simple but that goes well with the edgy music. I am not sure if they master their instruments very well but this makes their punk sound even more authentic. My only reproach would be that the singer whose voice I rather dig yells a little too much for my liking on their first album. The most exciting of all the new retro rock bands I have heard yet. British Sea Power, Clinic, Gomez and Interpol have their moments though.

Strange that British retro bands seem to appeal more to me than most of the American ones be it The Strokes (not as bad as I made them in my old blog but still not amazing), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (blatant Jesus & Mary Chain rip-off), The White Stripes (I liked them at first listen but Jon Spencer did this better), The Liars (kind of annoying), The Walkmen (the music would be better without the irritating high-pitch voice of the singer), The French Kicks (boring harmonic post-punk) etc.

Audio: The song To Hell With Good Intentions as mp3 from their new album McLusky Do Dallas. Six songs in real audio from their first album My Pain and Sadness Is More Sad and Painful Than Yours at Vitaminic.

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