BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - WHO KILLED SGT. PEPPER? (A. Records)

Often noted as the album Anton Newcombe has been wanting to make since the turn of the century - or atleast when the infamous DIG!-era lineup retired to make room for the recent staff of Emerson/Maymi/Campenella/Hegna/Allaire, Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? is an intense, yet experimental interpretation of psychedelic/dance-rock fusion. Mostly recorded in Iceland, Anton left his entire live band stateside to record these 13 songs by himself with a skeletal crew of guest musicians. Newcombe even recorded his own drums (or in some cases, drum loops), something that he had only partially self-employed on previous albums.

"This Is the One Thing We Did Not Want to Have Happen" may be the first stand out track on initial listening sessions - mostly for the possibility that Anton may had combined a familiar Joy Division drum pattern (think "She's Lost Control") with a hasty vocal line reminiscent of Ian Curtis' slower mumbling in "Day of the Lords" while mixing in a catchy chorus that could had been copied from any one of five different brit-pop anthems from that sub-genre's glory years and doubling the song length to create a certified BJM original.

"Some Place Unknown" may bring back memories (or perhaps nightmares) of any listener's drug-fueled mid-90s 3AM rave marathon experiences. "This is the First of Your Last Warnings", "Let's Go Fucking Mental", and the re-done "Feel It" may also be competing for spots on that same expired DJ playlist. However, songs like "Super Fucked" and "Our Time" reassure us that Brian Jonestown Massacre are still the best British shoegaze band not from the actual U.K. (although some existing proof of that claim between 1995's Methodrone and now would be nice).

Missing from this sporadic collection of songs are Dylan-esque folk numbers that Newcombe often gets stereotyped with. That omission alone makes Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? possibly BJM's most focused album in years.

Click the above album image to buy the CD from AMAZON


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