Album Review: Wine Lips - "Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party"

 

Hailing from the same Toronto scene that spawned the Black Halos, Wine Lips are an odd one. Existing in that weird twilight world where punk meets psychedelia occasionally inhabited by the likes of the Lords of Altamont and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, they've certainly got a unique sound.

While tunes like Eyes, Lemonade and Get Your Money have a feral punk quality to them (the lead singer reminds me of Jeff Drake from the Joneses which is no bad thing), the lurching riffs on Tension and Fingers actually remind me a bit of the psychedelic heaviness of Thee Hypnotics which is certainly a sound I've not heard for a while but no complaints here. A few tracks here remind me a bit of Birdland in their more mid-paced moments as well which is a good thing in my book I promise and there's even an excursion into Wire-style post-punk on In The Clear. Suffer The Joy meanwhile starts out with a speeded up Stonesy strut before going into a full-on stoner rock cataclysm and the swirly guitars of Fried 3 even go into shoegazing territory.

The main minus point with Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party is that with it being a bit all over the place musically it seems to struggle to hold together as a coherent set of songs at times but you certainly couldn't accuse Wine Lips of not having a very unique sound and it isn't a bad one either. Maybe a bit of work around the edges is needed but this is certainly one of the more enjoyably different albums I've listened to of late.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sounds From The Junkshop #43 - The Yo-Yo's

Image
  "Too much too soon is not enough..."  - The Yo-Yo's  - Keep On Keepin' On So welcome to what can best be described as Wildhearts Weekend here at Nite Songs. Tomorrow and Sunday we'll finally be carrying on with the band story wot we started way back last August by looking at the various projects the group members got up to after their messy split in 1997 as well as a little bit on their initial reunion in the early years of the millennium. This bit on the Yo-Yo's was originally meant to form part of that side projects column but after reading it through and realising that it actually expands quite a bit outside the Wildhearts story frame, I thought it was deserving of its own SFTJ entry. Plus, they were an awesome band who I used to follow quite avidly back around the turn of the millennium so they definitely deserve a full column to themselves. There Yo-Yo's were formed by Danny McCormack after the Wildhearts went on hiatus, and I remember a great quot
Read more

Album Review: The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs - "All The Covers (And More)"

Image
  Covers albums are an odd beast and the prospect of a 40 track one would've been a cause for me to shudder in certain circumstances. However, given that the band behind this are Nite Songs faves the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, a quick cursory glance at the tracklisting will tell you that we're on safe ground. Hand on heart, quite a few of the tracks are already available on previous Cheetahs albums but it still doesn't make their takes on the Saints' Know Your Product  and the Dictators' Faster And Louder  any less fun. There's the odd mis-step in here - their speeded up take on the Dogs D'Amour's Debauchery  ends up sounding more like Queen's Stone Cold Crazy . But the good stuff here far outweighs the bad with the group teaming up with none other than Cherie Currie for a good run through the Runaways' Cherry Bomb and the group adding a much needed dose of extra urgency to Motley Crue's Livewire  to remind you that the Crue actually had a f
Read more

Album Review: Simon & The Astronauts - "Simon & The Astronauts"

Image
  We first became aware of psychedelic folkie types Simon & The Astronauts via their rather lovely Walking In London  single a couple of months back which was reminiscent of a less annoyingly twee Belle & Sebastian. It piqued my interest sufficiently to give their album a listen and I'm happy that I did. What we've got here essentially is an enjoyably tuneful slice of indie-pop which has been given a 21st century nip and tuck to keep it interesting and varied. Hence while the likes of the defiant  I Have A Name  and the bubbling Pay It Back and 10 League Boots , which conjures up the image of Dubstar covering one of No Doubt's gentle ballads, a not unpleasant sound, deliver on the tunes, The Kiss That Landed  goes into classic girl group territory and All My Days is a sinister poison waltz. Elsewhere, they dip their toes into winsome Beatles-y psychedelia ( Athena) , Strawberry Switchblade style goth-pop ( I Do ) and heartstring-tugging laments to lost times (the af
Read more