Nite Songs

  So this is it then, our final album review of 2022 before we wind down for Christmas and it's definitely one that I was a bit excited about. We first encountered part-Welsh part-American scuzz-punks the Mudd Club via their rather excellent Bottle Blonde  album last year and Give Me A Thrill  has just to say beaten our cut off point for 2022 so let's see if it can grab itself a place in our end of year list. It gets off to a good start with Friday Night On A Monday Morning  sounding like Blondie staggering home from the local lock-in at 6am before the Cramps-esque title track chucking an undeniable groove into the mix. There's an enjoyably sloppy feel to a lot of the tracks here such as  Calendar Ghoul  and the strutting Tattoo  which carries on the feel from their first album and I'm certainly not complaining about that while You'll Never Change Me , Brand New Shoes  and Throwaway Lover  go into almost Cramps style rockabilly territory. A c...

  And so the countdown continues. Ten more today as we move into the Top 40 (cue up the old TOTP chart rundown theme should you feel so inclined) *** 40.      THE MUDD CLUB - "Bottle Blonde" From Kansas via Machnylleth, the Mudd Club blasted out of nowhere to come up with one of the better debut albums of 2021. No-nonsense two minute knucklehead garage-punk, it's the way the group attack the songs on  Bottle Blonde  with such sheer carefree abandon in the best X-Ray Spex/Adverts/Television Personalities style that makes this album a winner. *** 39.     STEVE CONTE - "Bronx Cheer" Conte's first solo album in seven years was a triumphant comeback from the guy with an impressively varied repertoire taking in everything from full throttle punk to laid back smoky blues jams. The guy deserves credit for putting together something this varied when it would have been very easy to just stick with a safe option and Bronx Cheer  is an excellent listen. ...

  Take two American ex-pats from Kansas relocated to Machynlleth and a Welsh bass player and you evidently get the Mudd Club, a suitably scuzzy garage glam band with the ten tracks on Bottle Blonde  speeding past in an agreeably quick 28 minutes. I get the impression that people are going to compare this group to Amyl & The Sniffers with the snarling vocals and stripped down backing definitely being similarity. However, while I have to admit that the Sniffers' album was a bit of a disappointment mainly because of how quickly it started repeating itself, this is much better with songs such as Killin' Me  (which sounds like an old Dr Feelgood number liberally drenched in glitter and fumes), the creepy Cramps-indebted Wombat Twist and the surf-punk demolition derby of She Creature  adding the necessary variety to the more straight-ahead Chats style slices of fast 'n' loud garage punk like Bored To Death , Sick  and Paper Cut . There's a wickedly playful sense ...