COCK E.S.P. / PANICSVILLE "Last Train to Cocksville"
Little Mafia / Nihilist / SunShip | LM032 / Nihil 23 / Sun35 | CD | 2003

Who doesn't know Cock ESP? Probably only these who aren't into noise. Over the 10-year- long career they've given to the world dozen or so full length albums, lots of tapes, CD-R releases, singles, videos, compilation appearances, collaborations. A chance you may not across the name is very little, I guess. Their senior by about two years, Panicsville cannot make a boast of such impressive amount of records, but as the press kits say, they're very well known in the States too. Anyway, both groups have joined their efforts to record 10 short tracks that refer to/or are covers of local, folk legend The Monkees. Unfortunately, to get the concept of 'Last Train to Cocksville' well, the knowledge of The Monkees' music and its cultural context is required. I have none unfortunately, so my words result directly from what I am hearing on the record. Noise pranks. This, in a nutshell, could describe both projects' sarcastic approach to the object of their inspiration. There's a kind of struggling between a song form, and noise per se. Our noise makers make the Monkees the worst nightmare of what could happen to their master tape if it got in a strong magnetic field come true- rocking tunes and happy singings coupled with distortions, hisses, white noises, scratchings.Only 20 minutes that runs very fast and are enjoyable enough to replay all over again!

[krzysztof sadza]