Celebrity Telethon by Celebrity Telethon

Garage-punk? Budget rock? Man! The opening track here “Skin Flicks” sounds like a beefed-up 1969 Kasenetz-Katz bubblegum production, complete with whiny nasal-snarl vox à la Joey Levine (the voice behind most of the Ohio Express hits). The lyrics, on the other hand, seem to be about seeing your “motherfucking mother-in-law” in a porno—or something. Lurid! Loureed? Yeah, he’s lurking around here somewhere too. And there’s one that has a slinky funky dirty sorta Voidoid/No Wave feel that reminds me of Canadian faves the Retail Simps. Back to the film theme: “(A Return) to Salem’s Lot” and “Film Noir.” Do I detect a bit of Uranium Club in here too? Maybe—check “Neighborhood Regulars.” This ain’t no retro fashion show. But that noir thing sounds a bit like something from LX Chitlin’s country-rock flirtations. There’s some more country-ish stuff, but then it turns into mutant disco. I somehow keep gettin’ flashes of Herb Alpert, but I don’t hear any horns. Glitter-rock flashes too. Mott the Hoople? It’s a big bag of influences. Wait, do I hear horns now?! They also do a pretty swell take on Stonewall Jackson’s “I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water” (I remember the Johnny Rivers from my kid years). Hey, it sounds like a party! Maybe things get a little dark, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Ya take yer fun where ya can get it.
—Eddie Flowers

Celebrity Telethon is an underground rock ’n’ roll outfit based in the American Pacific Northwest. Their pulp-noir sound mines the purest strata of punk’s earliest echoes. It’s murder in hi-fi.