Play Some New! Dept.

Irwin F. Axolotl surveys latest delivery of contemporary music! Legacy Foam-O-Graph© - "Art For Slobs™"

Th' Four Or Five Guys© know that th' Isle O' Foam© is no haven for the Cult Of The New. When the existence of humanity endures for but a blink of the cosmic eye, it seems foolish to cling to the idea of old vs. new - every recorded note we listen to was recorded in the past, be that past days or decades ago. Who's counting? Who cares? And anyway, most new pop music (and by new I mean post-'75, as good a definition as yours) is competent at best, with its sources and inspiration more evident than originality. If you're happy with competence, as The Young People Of Today seem to be, with their diminished allowance of human happiness, then fine.

But new releases do get auditioned here, by Irwin F. Axolotol [above - Ed.], in our Quality Control Dept. You haven't seen much of Irwin for two reasons; he don't look so great in a bikini, and most of the records he listens to are recycled as decorative items - novelty flower pots, ashtrays, abstract mobiles and the like [add to cart - Ed.], but occasionally he rubber-stamps SWELL! on an album and passes it on to me.

Hence [grammar - Ed.] today's SWELL! offering; a back catalog bounty from Elephant Stone [first album, 2009, at left - Ed.] That rare thing - a guitar group. That can play guitar. As well as some Exotic Instryments. Yes, the influences are there because the format demands it, but their take is energising and skillful, melodic and a little thrilling. They're out of Canadia! They get psychedelia right, by George! Buy their records! Or not!

This post funded in part by endowments from Katy's Katheter Kabin, Pork Bend, WIS, and UNESCO.