Thee Ludds on Hodad Records

I don't know what a 'ludd' is, and all I think of is some kind of really dense 'lad', but what Thee Ludds sound like makes perfect sense: raw, primal garage low budget frankenstein rock which just so happens to be out of the UK, but honestly I wrote this entire thing before I actually noticed.

The A-Side, 'Where to Begin' is hitting a pretty nostalgic place for me, I don't know if it's that hockey game organ or the snarling, bad boy Cramps distorto vocals. It's got all kind of roots in that B-movie style... bowling with flame tattoo's and those matte black hot rods with no engine cover. I came across someone describing The Troggs as 'caveman' rock and I really can't think of anything better to describe this scuzzy bash sound, it's minimal, take away the blues sliding, emotional influence and get down to the basics, happy or sad, good or bad.Iis this time signature 1/2? Kick snare, kick snare.
My friend Matt in his first band, like all of us, lied and said he could play drums. I always saw him counting to himself when he played live 1,2,3,4...1,2,3,4. it's nothing against drummers...I've heard all the jokes, but that's all it really took to play. Thee Ludds agree, don't overthink this, if it's fast with this half howl, curled upper lip vocal and this organ filtered through that extra gain knob then it would be impossible not to get something worthwhile out of this.
I'm taking the little bit of theatrics and combining it with this '50s sort of pop art illustrated sleeve and guessing they know what I'm talking about.
As time goes on, there are better bands around today working in those offshoots of genres better than when it was happening in it's hey day. Like these guys take surf and evolve it into the parking lot to play chicken for pink slips, with rolled up cuffs....then what? Motorcycles and meth, machete's...you can see where it quickly evolves.
'Skin and Bones' on the B-Side then uses a tom instead of a kick for a super caveman tom-tom rock? Jesus this keyboard almost lands the whole thing squarely into psyche if the lead vocals weren't so scary and distorted. They're the perfect length songs recorded in 'moronophonic' according to the inner label, which is all minimal and Helvetica. They even got nostalgic on the handwritten note they included, and listed their email address that ended in 'googlemail.com?" They are consistently a time warp!
But they really nail this surf tiki torch sound, with a Screamin' Jay Hawkins feel it's completely wild, unleashed, and over in two minutes.
That's a damn good 45.
It reminds me of an old Cococoma single, the hand drawn comic graphic, limited color pallete...it says punk and homemade and garage all at once. I knew who I was going to hear before the needle even hit the record.
It's exactly like The Mummies via the Sonics, so dead on, it's scary, believe me I've been playing them back to back...it's horror garage, these guys have it...everyday and halloween.

Get this burner from Hodad's bigcartel store, this is going to take some airmailing to get stateside, so either demand it from those good importers, SS, fusetron, midheaven etc...or have it converted through the magic of paypal. Jesus, can you imagine 15 years ago if you wanted this you'd have to go get pounds somewhere and send an airmail letter?
Welcome to the future... not you Thee Ludds...everyone else.