Hi-Fi Killers / Los Dragos
s/t
Nicotine Records

Although I’ve recently been digging more and more into the impressive number of French/Italian split seven-inches that we seem to have stashed at the radio station, my knowledge of such things is still relatively slight. I have noticed, however, that these splits tend to be good. Although the Hi-Fi Killers and Los Dragos are coming from a completely different sound than I’m used to, this release continues to represent well.

Nicotine Records has a mission statement, of sorts, on its website, and it’s one that most of us have heard and said and questioned and rehashed many times: It’s time to recover the true spirit of rock ‘n’ roll, the really revolutionary and subversive one, not because it conforms to the politicization desired by squats or the false anti-conformity of the new “hippies” army, but because it’s pure expression of wild, bestial and spontaneous instinct. A beautiful idea, to be sure—although I don’t have room to get into the whole business of “false anti-conformity”—but I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s grown wary of such proclamations. I love my rock’n'roll, and I hate the pale imitations surround us like phantoms, but sweeping calls to action like this tend, more often than not, to be empty expressions of frustration. This time, though, I think I may have stumbled upon the real thing.

For this split is probably the first “rock-revival” record I’ve heard that actually sounds convincing. The sound and the songwriting have a decidedly classic bent, but the way these songs are performed and recorded breathes new life into an old style. These bands have basically written late 60’s-style rock songs, complete with titles like “Get a Move On”, and trashed them with dissonant, distorted guitars and gritty sound quality. My favorite cut on here is “My Time”, on the Los Dragos side, which I think is slightly stronger than the Hi-Fi Killers material; it’s more dirty-sounding. The most interesting thing about these songs, though, is that they’re subtle; it takes a few listens to realize that this record is more than just a throwback to rock’n’roll sensibilities, but once you do, you’re hooked.

All this having been said, I’m not sure where else these bands have to go. Their fresh take on old rock is impressive and very well-done, but it’s a little difficult to conceptualize how such an approach can sustain itself beyond three or four songs. Los Dragos has a full-length compilation out, also on Nicotine, so anyone who finds their songs particularly compelling should check their other stuff and let me know how it plays out. Personally, I like this record for its conciseness as well as its strength, and I think that it’s best appreciated interspersed with more contemporary, overtly dissonant stuff. These songs, apart from their quality, are important reminders of where we’ve come from, and raise questions about where we’re going.