Chainsaw Kittens
	Recorded by Trent Bell
	Released on October 1996
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
534 002-2 cover [high resolution scan]

Q ueer happenings in Oklahoma from the Kittens who nobody wanted. Now on Scratchie Records (co-owned in part by a Smashing couple), Chainsaw Kittens cut another sharp disc steeped in glam dementia and pop pedal to the metal accelebration. Every bit as wonder full as Flaming Lips and Teenage Fanclub, better put together than Shirk Circus or Motocaster, not as airtight as the Pumpkins or Super Furry Animals, why more of the world didn’t cuddle up to the Kittens remains a mystery. Tyson Meade doesn’t have a great voice, but neither did Billy Corgan, Feargal Sharkey, Bob Mould, David Lowery, excedrin. What the band has (and plenty of) are hooks and hallucinations. A lot of this plays out like a power pop nightmare unleashed. Tantalizing strands of moog snake towards you, out-of-body observations are rendered in full-fisted rock fury and glimpses of glamorous old ghosts (T.Rex, Sparks, Undertones) haunt the edges. The opening “Dorothy’s Last Fling” sets the ground rules: Anything goes so long as it sounds cool. Highlights include that plus the glamtastic music hall “Bones In My Teeth,” the Cheap Spark of “Sounder” and the sweet brittle of “Waltz Across Debris.” The rest of the disc is mostly psychedelic power pop punk, sometimes stranger than it should be (“Mad Hatter’s Blues”), sometimes not strange enough (“Heartcatchthump”). This is exactly the sort of stuff that college radio champions and that will endure so long as the world wants an alternative. Certainly worth a fling if any of the other bands I’ve mentioned herein are your thing.

TRACK LISTING

1. DOROTHY'S LAST FLING    (Tyson Meade)
2. HEARTCATCHTHUMP    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade/Eric Edward Bones)
3. TONGUE TRICK    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade/Eric Edward Bones)
4. KING MONKEY SMOKE    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade)
5. BONES IN MY TEETH    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade)
6. WALTZ ACROSS DEBRIS    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade)
7. BALLAD OF NEWSMAN 5    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade)
8. MOUTHFUL OF GLASS    (Tyson Meade)
9. THE LEASH    (Tyson Meade)
10. BICYCLEHEAD    (Tyson Meade)
11. ALL (NO SURPRISE)    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade)
12. SOUNDER    (Trent Bell/Tyson Meade)
13. MEAD HATTER'S BLUES    (Tyson Meade)
14. SPEEDWAY OKLAHOMA    (Tyson Meade)

CREDITS

TRENT BELL -- guitar, gramma's acetone organ
ERIC EDWARD BONES -- the drums
MATT JOHNSON -- bass guitar
TYSON MEADE -- vocals, guitar, moog, cover design
Steve Drozd -- piano
James Honderich -- violin
Mike Hosty -- lap steel (5)
Mary Beth Leigh -- cello
Maraya May -- vocals (11)
John Agnello -- mixing
mooneyham/FATE, discorporated -- layout, computer gibberish, advice
Craig Smith -- original photos (except for one by Brad Beesley)

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