Smells Like You: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Wolfmanhattan Project (Kid Congo Powers, Ex- Sonic Youth, The Gories)

Recalling the sort of reliably-sleazy offerings the American underground scene could turn up in the Eighties, the new album from Wolfmanhattan Project is the kind of thing that warms my jaded heart. Blue Gene Stew, out now via In The Red Recordings, sees Kid Congo Powers (The Gun Club, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), Mick Collins (The Gories), and Bob Bert (Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore) deliver skeezy rawk, the sort of thing that would be playing in the kind of strip-club that Poison Ivy of The Cramps would dance in, you know?

And speaking of The Cramps, "I Feel You" is wonderfully reminiscent of the stuff that Ivy and Lux Interior used to bring forth, while "Sticky" and "Delay is the Deadliest" allow Bob Bert to run amok on the kit. The one-time Sonic Youth drummer brings his best to this whole Wolfmanhattan Project, and his drumming throughout Blue Gene Stew suggests a neat blending of Nuggets-era rock with something more free jazz-inspired. "Smells Like You", the closest these hellions get to offering up something like a big single here, is jittery jungle-rock, bits and pieces of stuff here sounding a tiny bit like recent tunes from Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds or label-mates Des Demonas, even as the scuzzy work-out of the song suggests The Birthday Party slightly. Elsewhere, "Silver Sun" is more supple, a dash of two of old Prince and Sly Stone sides peeking through the seams on this one, oddly.

Look, I don't know if Wolfmanhattan Project is every going to make another record, so maybe Blue Gene Stew is it from this one-time super-group or something. It is, however, exactly what you'd want these three guys to make, and the sort of release that reassures that there's still a bunch of musicians out there with bad intent in their bones. I dug this a whole lot, and I'm only sorry that there aren't more genuinely alternative acts active these days pursuing this style of music. All hail Wolfmanhattan Project for staying sick as Ghoulardi used to say.

Blue Gene Stew is out now via In The Red Recordings. More details on the official Facebook page for the label.

[Photo: Johan Vipper, 2018, via the band's official Twitter account]