Recorded by
Steve Albini,
the Giddy Motors' debut full-length,
Make It Pop, sounds like
the Jesus Lizard covering
Captain Beefheart and
Miles Davis. Like
Black Flag, it's aggressive, caustic, and downright sincere stuff, whether on the
Minutemen-tinged rant and ramble of "Hit Cap," the
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-sounding "Bottle Opener," or the eerie
Queens of the Stone Age grooves of "Cranium Crux." This is avant-garde jazz punk rock and, led by guitarist Gaverick de Vis' thrashed vocals, it sounds like a band on an unerring quest to do its own thing without regard to trends or marketability. While more accessible than
Black Dice, for example,
the Giddy Motors aim to confound, grate, and destroy -- not exactly a recipe for pop stardom. But those looking for a challenging, unique, adventurous, and dizzying record will be duly impressed. ~ Charles Spano