The Twinkeyz - Aliens in Our Midst (Complete Recordings 1977 - 1980) This is by far one of the great lost albums of the 70's (with a few extras thrown in for fun). Honestly once I heard the few tracks filtering around the internets, I
was so hooked that I began a feverish search for this out of print gem. The band released three singles prior to this album, originally titled Alpha Jerk. Though the band weren't heard much outside the Sacramento area during their tenure, their influence has continued to inspire even to this day; influencing bands like Nothing People and The Flaming Lips (in their wonderfully early acid punk days, not the soft robot/age battling days of late). They fused disjointed power pop with strange inflections of sci-fi weirdness; their lyrics centering around aliens, alienation and E.S.P. They had a sort of Velvets looseness and the band's Donnie Jupiter definitely owes something to Reed's delivery. But there's something else, even in the early b-sides which were decidedly more pop than the album turned out to be, they come from such a weird angle that could only be matched by a band like Chrome; though unlike Chrome they have a better handle on how to balance weird and pop. Alpha Jerk has been reissued twice, once in this incarnation on CD and again a few years later as Cartune Land without the b-sides and live tracks, which is regrettable as the b-sides definitely stand up to the album tracks. Both were put together by Anopholes, who really needs to get these tracks into digital circulation if not a more consistent reissue. This is one of those releases that makes my day every time. Download: [MP3] The Twinkeyz - Aliens in our Midst [MP3] The Twinkeyz - Little Joey Support the artist. Buy it: HERE (best start hitting the eBay now)