Where the f*ck do half of these people spring from eh? Big in their hometown of Portland, Oregon but rarely venturing beyond the city boundaries in terms of playing live, this boy-girl duo of ex-husband, ex-wife team, Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss have acquired no shortage of cult admirers since their none too earth shattering inception in 1993 (Bright Eyes, Stephen Malkmus) but have managed to dodge commercial triumph with much the same success as George W Bush avoided the draft. And if the scruffy, flea-ridden collection of angsty rebel songs on ‘American Gong’ are anything to go by, it’s pretty clear why: they’re noisy, they’re belligerent, they’re uncompromising and they boast the same boisterous boozy bonhomie as the Gallagher brothers at closing time -‘Repulsion’ and ‘Little White Horse’ offering up the freakish psychedelia of Hawkwind, the skewed, progressive rock of My Morning Jacket and the snarling, harmonic overdrive of ‘Definitely Maybe’. Fans of the Jicks might be pleased to note that Jicks member, Janet Weiss plays the booming, bass heavy Malkmus card on ‘Now What’ and adds the usual sweet vocal sparkle on everything from the woozy, blues jam-fest that is ‘Rockabilly Party’ to the blistering, rocket-fuelled, ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’.
‘American Gong’ is not the most lucid, cohesive thing ever, but if you get your kicks from the slack-jawed stoner rock of Pavement, Sebadoh or even fusty old sour fruits like Apples In Stereo, it’s more than likely to satisfy.