I, Deejay O, declare here and now that I have seen many, many weirdo bands, some of uncertain pedigree and grooming (including one that insisted on setting a piano afire) but truly one of the strangest is the Low Red Center. William F. Buckley, the highbrow maestro of intellectual conservatism, once wrote of the Beatles that they were the “crowned heads of anti-music"...but had he instead heard Low Red Center, he would surely have reconsidered the coronation, and perhaps observed that some human beings are in fact secret locust electric gadget-men on an obscure mission.

Artist: Les Negresses Vertes Album: Mlah

Les Negresses Vertes are an eclectic eight-piece French band that released this exuberant debut in 1988. There are so many ideas on this record! Mlah fairly buzzes with dynamism and street-savvy brio, with accordions and horns bursting out of the mix. Complex and serpentine rhythms undergird the affair, and the band at this stage seems rather a Gallic counterpoint to the Pogues, with bold, almost shouted “gang vocal” choruses (and an even more self-destructive frontman whose luck eventually ran out).

This album was but a rumor for years which turned out to be true: back in the sixties, two precocious teen sisters, Wendy and Bonnie Flower, but 13 and 17 of age, had supposedly recorded a whole album of ethereal and sophisticated vocal harmonies in an understated, dreamy, memorable soft-rock style. What had actually occurred was that veteran studio musicians had helped the sisters Flower (their real name!) work their earnest, plaintive, precious little tunes into a full-blown, major label funded-authoritative statement of ‘60’s soft-rock policy.

GENTLE GIANT-In a Glass House (reissue) Free Hand (reissue)
Genre-(Progressive) Rock

OBLONG BOYS at Le Privilege
by Deejay O

The air was thick with scenesters at Le Privilege as
four bright colored Oblong Boys took to the stage,
dressed to the eights in oddball cardboard hats and
construction paper suits. As they began to emit the
machinic sproings, boings, blips and bloops that are
the trademark of the obscure "zolo" movement, the
initial effect was more wacky high-school novelty band
than arty futurism. Compared to today's bass-heavy
popular music, the utter orthagonality of their treble-y
high-frequency synths made the outfit even more