The Pizazz - Get Out Of My House lp

Burger Records is a small CA based label, putting out mostly cassettes AND Jaill's debut album. My attention was drawn to them because of their release of a cassette by Nobunny called "Raw Romance". Since it was sold out I checked Gemm and bought it. Great release with live and demo/early recordings. I subscribed to the mailinglist and got an email about a new band The Pizzaz, putting out an album on Burger Records. Total pressing of 200, 75 left for sale and the first 50 to order would get another free lp with early recordings. After I ordered I didn't hear anything from them, but I figured it would come through. And it did, including the free lp. I burned it to cd because we would go to France for two weeks and I NEEDED to listen to it.

My expectations were sky-high, thought that I was in for a treat like Harlem mixed with Nobunny. Boy was I wrong. This is so much more than that. Needless to mention I truly love Nobunny and Harlem, but The Pizazz are something else. Gotta say, if garage is your thing, this could be out of your league. Pop is what this is all about. And songs. The production is good, not the "let's bury the sound under the mudd", they don't need that. At times they sound like a lot like the nowadays' garagepop bands like Harlem, but they also take it back to XTC. The piano adds a nice twist to it. Some great laid back surf singalongs ala Beach Boys and you got the picture. Go check their MySpace to check out some tracks. I think it's still available on vinyl so get it while it's out there. If not, get the cassette!

the Dirtbombs new 7"

Last year Cass Records put out a Dirtbombs 12" called "Race To The Bottom". I played it once, it's full of synthesizer noodling, no music. A couple of months later I recieved an email from Ben Blackwell, who runs Cass Records and is playing drums in the Dirtbombs. It was a call to action; damage the 12", send it to the label and in return you would recieve a normal 7" with 2 Dirtbombs tracks. I smashed the 12", wich was killing me because it does big $$$ on ebay. This week I got the 7", two tracks, "Kick Me" and "The Crunch", on grey swirly vinyl.

This baby is doin' even more on ebay right now, but that's not the point. It's a limited pressing of 200, not available in stores or at the label. The only way to get this release is the way I did. Both tracks are covers of songs by Ray Columbus, a New Zealand garagerocker.