Wow! It's been 7 years since Atomic Mosquitos released their last LP Meltdown, and I've played that one an awful lot in the meantime. I was curious what Bug Music for Bug People was going to sound like. I seem to remember an email a long time ago where they told me that they weren't as happy with Meltdown as I was, and really what CAN you expect a band to sound like 7 years later?
Well, from what I've heard so far I'm pleased. This is building on the basic sounds I recognize from Meltdown (including some theremin) but it goes so much further with new surprises on nearly every track. "Half Asteroid" swings into a middle eastern sound, "Pluto's Revenge" brings a level of savagery to a group that was never tame to begin with, and oh god yes they cover Jaan Pehchan Ho! It does step it back a little from the pure loudness level of Meltdown which at times almost sounded like it was clipping... and I liked it then, but I don't think anything is lost here. There's plenty of energy, enough to stomp. But really, the thing that makes it a good album are the beatiful, inventive guitar licks and themes - the last 30 seconds or so of the final track of "Dial M for Mosquito" were so exciting and so fitting it gave me goosebumps.
A fun note: they didn't half-ass the Cramps reference in the album title and album art; the art was done by Stephen Blickenstaff, same artist as Bad Music for Bad People.
I've barely gotten one listen in on this, but it's already very clear to me that this was worth the wait.
They've got this one up on CDBaby and you can give "Cheese Quake" a listen from soundcloud
