Some FEATURED ARTISTS on this week’s Stronger Than Dirt (Saturday, 8-10pm) include the Downliners Sect, the Move, New York Dolls (RIP Sylvain Sylvain), Lyres, Cheryl (see this week’s promo), Servotron (see this week’s pic sleeve), John Wesley Coleman III (Austin), Giuda, new music by the Staffers (DC), Silicone Prairie (KC), Kelley Stoltz (SF), Warm Drag (LA), and Freak Genes (UK), as well as the weekly Dusty Diamond.
PICTURE SLEEVE OF THE WEEK: Servotron were a collective of robots who specialized in digital sonic manipulation. OK, not really. Actually they were a band formed by members of Man or Astroman? who dressed up as robots, and played fun, mechanized garage rock. Typically, their songs dealt with machines’ liberation from the tyranny of humans. “Meet Your Mechanical Masters,” a single from 1995 on Sympathy for the Record Industry, was their first release. The illustration and design is by Shag, and captures nicely the dark, dystopian humor of Servotron.
LAST WEEK’S DUSTY DIAMOND (a forgotten gem from the STD vaults): The Monsters are described on their Discogs page as “chainsaw massacre garage punks from Bern, Switzerland, playing hardcore rock ‘n’ roll trash.” I couldn’t have put it any better. Fronted by the maniacal, but talented vocalist and guitarist Beat Zeller (Lightning Beat-Man), they have been cranking out high-powered R&R since 1989. “High Heels and Mini Skirt” is a smoking, amp melting scorcher supercharged by Beat-Man’s elevated libido. It appeared in 1995 on the “Youth Against Nature” LP on Record Junkie Records. Listen to it here:
This week’s promo art is from Cheryl’s 1981 reissued single on Reminder Records.