The Gimmies: Phonic Souls

The Gimmies: Phonic Souls
Label: Dionysus Records
Release Date:
Review Date: 4/12/05

Man this is a weird one. Like most Japanese bands obsessed with any particular element of foreign pop culture, they have nailed this genre down. It’s garage rawk and roll. Your ears won’t even be able to tell that these guys are from Japan. Unfortunately, that may be because the recording of this record is quite possibly the worse thing you will ever hear. It’s as if the needles are pegged the entire time, from start to finish, making the whole thing pretty unlistenable unless you really like static. Go to Good Will and buy one of those old Panasonic all-in-one stereos. Leave the speakers out in the rain for a week, and then play your favorite record to get an approximation. It’s a shame, cause Phonic Souls could be quite fun otherwise. All original compositions except for a Randy Newman (!?) cover of Have You Seen My Baby, and a Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman fame song called New Race. Phonic Souls is co-produced my Michael Davis of the MC5, but this is not a good advertisement. In fact the Gimmies own web site doesn’t even include this in their discography. Of course, it’s all in Japanese, so who knows.

This Just in: According to Japanese reader Natsu – “This album is regarded as their latest album. They’re just about to do some gigs to promote its sales. That’s the reason it’s not included in the discography yet, as they seem to regard discography as a kind of historic.” Yes, we have Japanese readers, even if they are living in the U.S.!

Online Action: www.gimmies.net
Online Action: www.dionysusrecords.com