Weirdly hip new mutant synth-punk and noise project Fashion Pimps And The Glamazons are a Cleveland foursome comprised of drummer Jayson Gerycz (Cloud Nothing), key tickler Noah Anthony (Profligate), guitarist Richard Rodriguez, and bassist and vocalist Lean Steve (9 Shocks of Terror, Folded Shirt, Pleasure Leftists … and it goes on like that … ).
Their sound is deranged enough to get a VFW shut down midway through their opening set, but you can enjoy all their deluded grandeur, and avoid some leering stares from a gang of greying blotto blutos from the other side to the bar, by spinning their debut LP Jazz 4 Johnny in the safety of what every cramped corner of the city you are paying too high of a proportion of your monthly income to house yourself in … today!
As you might have guessed, Jazz 4 Johnny is not a bebop record. The Spits seem like a pretty good starting point as far as comparisons go (as they are with a lot synth-punk bands), but the Fashion Pimps have a sharp, somewhat menacing directness to them, that makes them better resemble a second cousin to Scratch Acid or Harry Pussy.
Also, the torment of the tangled synth lines found here feels like the inscrutable and partially incapacitated, direct offspring of an Arab on Radar demo session. The whole album feels calculated and propulsive, but more than that, adverse and overall antagonistic. It can be hard to quantify confrontationalism of this kind sometimes, and put it into terms that make sense by comparison, but essentially if all of the members of Devo were going through a divorce at the same time and decided to make a record with Rozz Williams where they really just cut loose and did a lot of amphetamines, you’d expect it to come out sounding something like Jazz 4 Johnny.
You can buy and stream Jazz 4 Johnny via Bandcamp below:
Jazz for Johnny is out via Feel It Records.
