Ivan Julian "the naked flame"

(00 02 59) I've been getting so many "mature" adult-ish records by former punk rockers (especially folks from the arty New York circles, or revered Brits, both scenes that Julian was a part of as guitarist in Richard Hell and the Voidoids and as a contributor to the Clash's "Sandinista") so I actually put this aside a few weeks before spinning it. Big mistake! I wasted weeks of my life that could have been enriched by this youthful, intense, wild, rave up of a record. Julians smoky, resonant voice is both one of a kind and very close to the bluesy slur all rock n roller strive for, guitars and drums on this are fucking insane. There's a creepy Bad Seeds/Beasts of Bourbon vibe to the production/vocal reocrding, but there are so many left turns here I hate to say this is any one thing. There's punk, there's garage rock, there's No Wave ("A Young Man's Money" is garage/No Wave simultaneously!), there's art rock, there's rousing rock, there's freakout dance music. Maybe there are a few moments on this that come off as possibly academic ("You Is Dead" comes off as a cerebral foray into minimal bloody bluesy balladry) but most of the album is totally visceral. This is an awesome record!