Human Fly

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After giving us the beautifully Ballardian Soft Verge album, this is a suitably perverse change of gear for Sonovac's Mike Silver. A trashy, creepy, psychobilly-surf-goth-electro-metal crossover classic? Pretty much. It's a cover of the Cramps 1979 "Human Fly", and doesn't hang about, coming on strong with a phenomenally tacky (in a good way) electro bassline ushering in a barrage of surf guitar, gloriously harsh drums, sleazily drawled vocals by sister Suzy Silver, and general sonic overload (if you play it at 33 by mistake, ahem, it's pretty good too, though Suzy sounds rather more like Iggy Pop than the sedated-Debbie-Harry feel she was probably going for). Aces. It's only a couple of minutes long, but you know the rules. The b-side, "Heavy Rotation" features a very nice sub-bass line and typically capable programming, but doesn't quite have the mythic charm of "Human Fly". Output helped put out this limited edition 7", and for his troubles, label-boss Trevor Jackson is depicted looking rather unwell on the screen printed, numbered poster which accompanies the package, a collaboration between Mike Silver and illustrator Will Sweeney. As a homage to pulpy trashy monster-gore comix - no so-called "graphics novels" here thankyouverymuch - it's spot on. It's black on red and it's got a big skull on it and everything.