New Guitar Wolf

Just one short year ago, who would have predicted that listening to Guitar Wolf could be so...well, poignant? The racket created by Seiji, Billy and Toru has always been more of a fist-pumping punk 'n' roll endurance test than anything else: just how many feedback squeals, hideously overdriven two-note solos and drunken guitar fumbles can a human being take? Well, over ten years after Guitar Wolf's debut album on Goner - and nearly twice that time since the band formed - the answer is clearly more than you'd expect. And with the tragic passing of Billy (a.k.a. Bass Wolf) this spring, these two new retrospective releases could not be more vital. It's high time we remembered the importance of Guitar Wolf, not as some Orientalist self-parodic "lock 'n' loll" act, but as the most brutal, primitive, awe-inspiringly raw force in music today...maybe even ever.

This year Seiji and Toru recruited a new bass player: a 19-year-old thug from Shimane named UG who's never played an instrument in his life but was hired solely on basis of "coolness." It's clear that this marks the beginning of a new era for the band, one in which Billy's absence will be missed as deeply as the other Wolves' perseverence is appreciated. And in that light, "hits" collection Golden Black and V.A. tribute album I Love Guitar Wolf...Very Much are the perfect ways to commemorate the Guitar Wolf of the past, while looking forward to an undoubtedly bright (and guaranteed hard-rocking) future. So go ahead. Put on "I Love You, OK" and see if it doesn't bring tears to your eyes...I fucking dare you.

Golden Black
(Narnack)

Talk about icons: Golden Black opens with the sound of a speeding motorcycle engine and a strangled shout of "1, 2, 3, 4!" And it's just too damn perfect. Next to the Ramones, there isn't a band on this planet the profundity of whose existence can be encapsulated with just those four Arabic numerals... except Guitar Wolf. In fact, no less than 11 of this generous sampler's 26 songs open with Seiji's impassioned count-ins; the rest just explode full-pelt into blood-red existence, as if we're listening to field recordings of the Big Bang and not just some cult garage act from Japan. But then, if Golden Black reminds us of anything, it's that, sonically, Guitar Wolf have always had more in common with seismic eruptions and heavy artillery than anything like conventional "music."

So it's almost laughable that this comp is being marketed as "remastered," since remastering Guitar Wolf is basically the equivalent to giving a burnt-down house a new coat of paint. At the same time, though, something about the process makes sense: Golden Black presents its career highlights in a non-contextualized, non-chronological, entirely homogenized manner, much like a live concert setlist (and the way the dudes play, you'd almost think this shit was live). With newly equalized fidelity and without the framework of discrete records, it's tough to tell that "UFO Romantics" was the title track of the band's (relatively) slickest studio album, or that "Red Rockabilly" is a slice of rock action from their Eric Oblivian-approved 1993 debut Wolf Rock. This approach, frankly, suits Wolf perfectly: that their "best of" is one sustained blast of white-hot noise, selected via online poll by their rabid fanbase, says more about the band than a well-ordered documentarian approach could ever say.

And it's a fact that their chaotic mix of rockabilly, classic punk rock, lo-fi garage and pure lunacy has never sounded better. Free of the occasional filler that plagues many of their proper albums, Golden Black moves from high to glorious high: "Wild Zero," "Jett Beer," "Invader Ace," the truly psychotic "Roaring Blood." Emphasis is rightly placed on the epochal 1998 album Jet Generation - which will remain essential no matter how many times it's compiled - but overall this is a fair and accurate representation of the force of nature that is Guitar Wolf, past and present. No, it won't convert the uninitiated: if you didn't "get it" before, exposing yourself to 74 consecutive minutes could only be an exercise in masochism. But listen to the final track, a rip-snorting deconstruction of Eddie Cochran's classic "Summertime Blues" which is at once reverent tribute and outright disembowelment, and tell me you can't feel the power. Not even the mighty Blue Cheer can hold a candle to this - and I use the term lightly - "cover." Simply put, Guitar Wolf don't give a fuck. And god bless them, I hope they never do.

-Zach Hoskins

I Love Guitar Wolf...Very Much
(Narnack)

Oh Guitar Wolf, for you and me it was love at first howl. And apparently, it was the same way for all of the bands collected on I Love Guitar Wolf... Very Much. Most of these brave artists break out the flame-thrower microphones, rev up the motorcycles, and chug their beers with pride. There are some issues, though. Puffy Amiyumi's cover of "Can-nana Fever" is just too cute. You can tell from their sugary-sweet chirps that these women would never be able to pull a sword out of their guitars. The song is fun, sure, but no one's going to break shit to it. And also, with the exception of Total Dork's cover of "Shinkasen High Tension", the songs are just a little too quiet for my liking. Guitar Wolf are the supposed creators of the loudest album ever made*, Jet Generation, and it's of my opinion that the listener should get more of an idea of that from this record.

Then again, I Love Guitar Wolf does exactly what a tribute album is supposed to do. No matter how much I found myself enjoying the covers, especially The Hellsquad's "Kawasaki ZII7 50 Rock 'N' Roll" and Lightning Bolt's "Planet of the Wolves", they only helped to to make my thirst for real jet rock and roll even stronger. And besides, Guitar Wolf as a whole have gone through a rough year. If anyone needs a tribute album at the moment, they do.

-Megan Giddings

* There are many theories out there stating Jet Generation is the world's loudest album, but there are just as many theories out there claiming that The Stooges' Fun House is the loudest. I have yet to find an authorititave claim as to which is actually the world's loudest album.

Official Site
Buy Golden Black and I Love Guitar Wolf...Very Much at Amazon
See Also (Zach): the second loudest album ever...?
See Also Also (Megan): a man who will never make the world's loudest record