Darvocets-Are New Wave 12" EP (2008)

Since the Electric Eels' John Morthland used to go into steelworker bars in the early '70s, dancing with bandmates just to start fights, Cleveland, Ohio has turned out some of the, ah, most animated rock around. From the Dead Boys to the Inmates, Cleveland bands are infamous for their loud, trashy, proudly ignorant brand of noise, usually accompanied by beer-bottle-throwing fans and/or fireworks.

I'm not gonna say that Darvocets don't fit in with their brethren, but Flyin' Tricheros they ain't. Midtempo, guitar-driven songs about aliens, Big Foot, and anti-gravity craft predominate over misogynistic drivel, and this album is more suited to getting zonked on acid than slamming Budweiser and starting fights at redneck bars. Fittingly, this LP appears just before Young, Loud and Snotty when I listen to it on itunes.

a potential H-bomb. Fashionable Idiots is out of these, but there's a whole bunch 'o' awesome stuff on offer, so check it out.