Special treat for ya'll this week. This is Norton Records Week!!! Norton Records is one of thee great labels out there, It's all about the rawk'n'roll, baby!!! Leather jacket sounds (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), geetar groove, bashin' trashin', and soul, baby soul, the loud sound abounds, lay on the floor sweatin' drops of sex and desperation, hollerin' teenage kicks and kickin' in (Kicks!) windows while the platter spins and the needle gets dirty on shout and shimmy rawk, mofo, rawk!!!!! And you can cry 96 tears, but they might not be enough.
Norton Records kills yr hipster stereo with classic vinyl re-issues of lost classics, new rekkids of fellow travelers, 7''s (or 45's, depending on your mileage) of blasted sonic joy, and an aesthetic that is sadly missing from almost any other rekkid label. Hollerin'!!!!
Phew!
Norton has released 3 new Rawk classics, and we're here to testify, brothers and sisters! So...let's lay down the fat bottom with the OG's....Billy Miller's and Miriam Linna's mighty A-Bones!!!
Founders of Norton Records (via other venues which you can research yrselves), Billy and Miriam are, yes, are, the A-Bones...with Bruce Bennett of course, and they've been rawkin' our lives for nigh on 30 years now, without any dip in terms of snotty fuck you rawk'n'roll. And they've got a new rekkid out, Ears Wide Shut (with an able assist from the genius Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo)).
Legend suggests this rekkid was recorded in one day (produced by Yo La Tengo's James McNew) at a rehearsal space (Superb Owl), and live in one take...which is exactly what the world needs. The first track alone, a cover of Heinz's "Questions I Can't Answer" , kicks off with the words "ready" and a squalling spooge-soaked geetar freakout before turning on the jets and blasting out a screaming rawk slab of sonic goodness, with a frenzy of snot vocals and tribal pounding, it leaves yr speakers destroyed and panting post-orgasmic trashcan copulation.
And that's just the beginning. Running through a range of covers (some of which, we have to shame-facedly admit, we had to research) and a couple of originals, the rekkid clocks in under 40 minutes (remember when that was the proper time for an LP to last?) and that's a recommendation. Complete and utter destruction, loudnfastnouttacontrol, distorted back and forth vocals between Ms. Linna, Mr. Miller, and Mr. Kaplan (see, particularly "Luci Bains", an out and out destroyer), beat, beat, beat in primal sex explosion, oh yeah, everything gonna be allright, skronking sax (courtesy of Stan Zenkoff), organ, electric piano abuse, nasty and dangerous. Dangerous is important.
It's hard to single out a single song (other than the ones mentioned above)...it's such a piece of brief rawk...but "Little School Boy" with a lead by Miriam Linna (wailing to the break of dawn) and "Catahoula Stomp" (with insane organ) are contenders. As are "Just a Little Bit of You", with it's menace and "Tulane", travelling dark highways. (next week, we'll have new favorites!).
The A-Bones are your favorite band, even if you didn't know it! Man, we're sweaty just thinking about the rekkid, daddy-o!
If you want a sample, head to Norton Records! Best Record of the Year so far...
Thanks for stoppin' by!
