A Year of Music

What’s wrong with you, she said,
are you crazy?
You can’t say things like that,
you can’t say things like that.

You’re back to making waves.
Her messages are plain.
I wanna be her slave.
There’s a fire in my brain.

What’s wrong with you, she said,
are you crazy, or something?
You can’t say things like that,
you can’t say things like that.

“Kowtow” by China Shop (from Hyped 2 Death’s Homework #10: American DiY 1978-1989 A-C) is yet another beautiful piece of post punk psychedelia, with its woozy backmasked guitars, stylized vocals, drum machine rhythms, and mournful Let’s Active atmosphere (if you ever liked REM and you’ve never heard of Mitch Easter’s band, you should do something about that). The combined effect is a startling mixture of jangle pop and electronic psychedelia, and the oddly affecting (and affected) singing seals the deal. I need more of this stuff.