It's a
Headcoats
album -- anyone expecting anything different or unusual who already knows their work might as well go home. But, as with most everything
Billy Childish
has a hand in, what
Conundrum
lacks in surprise it more than makes up for with energy.
"Every Bit of Me"
alone has enough rough-voiced and snarling
garage
punk
power to shame wannabes half the age of
Childish
, and that's just the first track of 14. His witty, blunt, and passionate views on life, love, and lust are as strong as ever, while the band sounds particularly great, still embracing the rough-and-ready
Toerag Studio
sound but cutting the musical crap and kicking out jams like nobody's business. If you need proof, throw on the drumming from
"(Bitten Off) More Than You Can Chew"
or the steady, malevolent punch of
"Again and Again"
to show how the guitar/bass/drums lineup can still kill when handled just right.
's long-running Native American song theme, sparked by his own personal worship of the guitar god par excellence
Link Wray
, gets a nod with the smoking
"Crazy Horse,"
which actually sounds like a
Bo Diddley
cut more than anything. Then there's
"Watch Me Fall,"
where
's guitar is so trebly and overmodulated it almost sounds like an electric sitar without even trying! Sometimes, however, all it really takes is
's own fierce contempt for the idiots of the world -- thus
"He's So Popular With the Girls,"
which demolishes fame in musical and other spheres in a series of brilliantly intense verses that aim to rip heads off first and foremost.
"We Ain't Gonna Be,"
meanwhile, makes romantic angst sound more wounded and raging than ever. ~ Ned Raggett