posted on victimoftime.com oct. 1st

This Friday night in Chicago don't miss the kickoff of the Wizzard Sleeve Fall tour as it launches at the Mortville loft, and obliterates the southwest side with the soiled ashes of Chrome, Crime, and Creedence or, the sound of Peter Murphy sucking on a tailpipe, as both descriptions are gut-wrenchingly appropriate. Also with their October tour brings the debut of the anxiously awaited Wizzard Sleeve LP, Make The World Go Away, out this week on HoZac officially, and available direct from the band at all of their upcoming shows. If you've been brave enough to stick your face in the flames of November's Coming Fire, then it's time to man up to yourself and break your head right through the window of your mind, as this sickening album has enough black ooze and crawling vermin running around in its grooves that it's gonna be impossible to ever really wash the filth off. It's clearly a deathpunk masterpiece, dripping with cold, black power and drug juice running down it's spine, and as the witching hour grows near, it's the perfect audio accompaniment for the bone-chilling depravity lying within the darkest corners of your mind. If you've already been soaking in it, you'll need no convincing, but to the curious and uninitiated, listening to Wizzard Sleeve is a long dark trip down the wrong end of everything, and its bewitching ugliness fits these bleak times like a glove.

As birds of a feather always flock en masse to the nearest bloody carcass to feast upon, Static Static from Los Angeles join up with Wizzard Sleeve Friday as well, bringing their drilling and neurotic noise to Chicago's dirtiest and most perilous part of town. Writhing guitars clash into frayed synth circuits with metronomic precision, all the while Static Static's killer deadpan vocals cut right through the tension and create incredibly danceable destructo rock, all wrapped in dirty razorblades. And live, they're even better. If you haven't already, do check out the many stellar Static Static 7" releases, and don't forget to pick up their debut LP on Tic Tac Totally as well.

But just when you thought it was too passe to be in a dangerous band in Chicago, along comes the perfectly sloppy and unrealistically addictive bubblegum-barf of Mickey, one of the most dazzling concoctions to grace the stage locally as of late. How this strange mix of weirdos ever came together is odd enough, but the music Mickey delivers is refreshingly perfect, trashy glam/powerpop, a la early GG Allin & the Jabbers and the Berlin Brats, played by guys that all seem to be in their own worlds, but come together like nothing you've ever witnessed. Featuring the seethingly salacious Mac Blackout as the teeny-boppin' "Juke Box Babe"-era Alan Vega figurehead, along with his zany gang of glitterous glammaries from bands such as Tentacle Lizardo, Incredible Nigga Band, and Trash & Heat, this is one bumping train of all-around punk heaven you cannot miss. Look for the debut Mickey 7" coming this winter on HoZac, so don't be late to the Mortville loft and miss 'em, and bringing more beer than necessary is always a good idea.