I’m a fan of label sampler records; they’re usually really cheap, if not free, and I’m introduced to a lot of bands that I would normally have no clue existed. Lux Noise has a pretty good stable of bands represented herein… most fall within the realm of punk’n’roll, or the connections thereto can be relatively easily discerned. There are seven bands with two songs each on this sampler. The record opens with the badass rock’n’roll stylings of the Bitch Queens and R-A-M-S, then turns left with Wolfwolf’s minimalistic ghoul rock in the vein of early Cramps. Then the Vibes and Gloria Volt come on to rock your liver with their borderline bar-rock versions of rock with songs about rock, a genre I go gooey over so long as such bands haven’t lost their sense of urgency and/or sold out, which neither of these bands seems to have done yet. Then the Jimmy Miller Incident takes the stage in what for me is a dud, with their innocuous brand of blues-infused warblings. Finally, we finish with Baby Jail, who do this early-’80s new wave-ish rock stuff in German that kind of reminds me of Nina Hagen, but maybe that’s just because of the Deutsch. Then it all repeats, presumably in what would be a vinyl B side. Overall, lots of fun.
–Eric Carlson (Lux Noise)