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bootleg booze

  • the hideous boozeUnemployment Blues b/w Junkie/Imagainary Hitman - The Hideous (Bootleg Booze)

    Some will say it’s sacrilegious to say it but The Hellacopters sometimes sounded like a guitar solo in search of a band. Stockholm’s The Hideous draw all the obvious comparisons to those Scandi rock elder statesmen with their fondness for the wah-wah pedal, but do the  high-energy business with much less fuss.

    They’re young and raw and this looks like their debut release, coming from esteemed Swedish label Bootleg Booze.

  • imperials state electric singleImperial State Electric being the current band (or more like a collective with rotating membership) for Helicopters main-man Nicke Andersson. That alone should tell you what to expect.

    Imperial State Electric had passed me by before this but if the single is anything to go by, the sound and spirit of the ‘Copters is alive and kicking.

    This single is the same song done twice ("City Slang" style) and it comes from the 2013 album, “Reptile Brain Music”. Neither side lets anyone down: It’s bristling with guitar riff Rock Action and an uncompromising drive in the bottom end. One of the people responsible for all that engine room power, Bassist Dolf de Borst (The Datsuns), does the honours on vocal. The flip is a dirtier version of the song with Nicke behind the microphone.

    This is a second pressing which tells ironed-on Helicopters fans (and even casual ones like me) that it’s not too late to make sure they don’t miss out.

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