test your metal

The weekend is almost here. Ready to rock like a cloud of delocalized electrons around a lattice of positive ions? Slap on your best set of conduction and valance bands, and key your responsometer to “party”, because today Armagideon Time is going metallic in the most literal, non-satanic way imaginable.

Aardvark – Copper Sunset (from Aardvark, 1970) – This is an outstanding fuzzed out hard rock/heavy prog track reminiscent of early Deep Purple or Black Sabbath. The song is also noteworthy for being entirely organ-driven; the band did not have a guitarist, a unique decision for a hard rock outfit.

The Cardigans – Iron Man (from The First Band on the Moon, 1996) – I admired the Cardigans from afar for months. While channel surfing, I’d surreptitiously linger on VH1 if I came across the video for “Lovefool” and try not to let my wife discover my secret pop music shame. Then one day, she came home and handed me a Newbury Comics bag which disgorged a copy of The First Band on the Moon CD. “I could tell you liked them, but were too embarrassed to buy the album, so I got it for you,” she said. That is what is known as true love.

Echo & the Bunnymen – Silver (from Ocean Rain, 1984) – I’d be hard pressed to think of another pop album as dreamily romantic as Ocean Rain. The inclusion of the utterly inane “Crown of Thorns” (“c-c-c-cucumber, c-c-c-cabbage”) is regrettable, but more than compensated for by tracks like “Seven Seas”, “The Killing Moon”, and “Silver”.

Chromeo – Mercury Tears (from She’s In Control, 2004) – Anyone who begins shedding mercury tears for real ought to cut down on their piscatory intake. Or quit confusing lab thermometers with Fla-Vor-Ices. (A very easy mistake to make, unfortunately.)

Girls at Our Best – Go For Gold (from Pleasure, 1981) – Funky, feminist post-punk with honeyed vocals. An ideal choice for anyone who wishes the Au Pairs or Delta 5 were a bit more poppier, or Crass’s Penis Envy was a little less abrasive.

Kraftwerk – Uranium (from Radio-Activity, 1975) – A short musical interlude titled after everyone’s favorite actinide, and featuring an early precursor to the Speak’n’Spell vocal gimmickry so popular with the retro-tech synth acts these days.