Cowbones

When I mentioned French band Cowbones late last year, I mentioned that I was very excited about their upcoming album, Vox Populi Polux. This anticipation was based on the above photograph and one track only, 'New Cobonnies'. I compared them to Grinderman, Jon Spencer and other rampant psychobilly misanthropes - and that comparison still stands. But Cowbones are a much stranger beast than this acknowledgement. Opening with the staccato drum machine and organ combo with warped vocals of 'No Law', we realise that these punks are unique in their derangement. 'Cramp' seems devoted to The Cramps/The Mummies et al, thus the name, but then there is the sparse, distorted dance-punch of 'Honey' or the syncopated belch of 'My Room'. 'Pink' whips out the Theremin and takes us down into the sordid Underworld. Most of the lyrics whether Gallic or English are delivered from a megaphone made out of rusted aluminium and razor wire. It's a special brand of hell that I for one subscribe to wholeheartedly.

You can grab Vox Populi Polux (out now through Casbah Records) here.