Strange Attractor by Strange Attractor

Strange Attractor - LP (Red Lounge Records)

Hyperactive Canadian garage-punkers do a 19 song LP clocking in at about 20 minutes. A recipe for success, and they get the ingredients right most of the time. There are about five other bands with this name as well, so be careful looking them up on the ol' Myspace. Anyhow, the thing that puts this record over the top for me is the singer. An exceptionally snotty voice in action and his vox really take the punk parts of this record convincingly over-the-top. "Go Fuck My Brain" is the most wonderfully stupid song since De Stipjes "My Brain is Dead". This has a good dozen punk rippers, in the Angry Samoans-via-Rip Off sound, but ripping off the best savage punk parts, like Problematics, Motards, Brides and such. And when the do give garage top-billing over punk, it's speed-trial tempo blasters a la Spaceshits or Teengenerate. They do songs with titles like "Beer", "Fuck Shit Up", "We're A Druggie Family" and "Decapitate Me Baby" justice, making them legit torpedo-rockers instead of groan-inducing fakepunk. Really impressed by attitudical thumpers like "Night Banger", "Gossip Girls" amd "I'm A Strange Attractor" as well. The best cut might be "Nite Stalker", a wonderfully whiny garage-pop number that morphs into a punk pisser. Playing is super tight throughout, recording is crisp yet not slick, and as I said, the guys vox are just totally sick. You're gonna look at this record and think it's just another generic garage-punk LP, but they really made an exciting and entertaining record out of some components that could easily have been overly-cliched and cornball. Sure, it's stereotypically dumb and yet another stroll down a beaten path, but it's done with vigor and talent and it's so quick you don't have too much time to think about it anyway. They don't overplay the dumb-punk angle, bringing things to just the right point before getting too goofy, maintaining the punk 'tude and not drifting into parody. Certainly no more irritating than Wax Museums ever got. Perfect length. Excellence of execution. One of these guys is in The Statues, but Strange Attractor are ten times better and more punk than that softball playing outfit. And the dog-wearing-sunglasses labels are sure to be a hit with Termbos everywhere. Beautiful and slick gatefold packing from Red Lounge is a bonus, and really too nice for such a record.(RK)
(Red Lounge Records // myspoace.com/redloungerecords)
Terminal Boredom


Strange Attractor- LP (Red Lounge Records)

Brash and snotty psychedelic garage punk from Ontario. This 19 song LP/CD is over as fast as a pepper spraying... but more fun depending on what you're into. This is a great debut and I hope to hear more from Strange Attractor as they evolve. This release has a lot of fast spastic punk anthems kinda Reatards/sped up Ramones. A few tracks lean more towards traditional garage and a couple have a Merseybeat feel believe it or not, like "Litty Oh Litty". One of my favorites was weird punk like the outstanding "We're A Druggie Family"! I think the band is at it's most original here and sound pretty fucking crazy! Look out for their split single with Red Mass on Ptrash.
(Bob Scott)
Mongrel Zine #8

Facebook