Library Rock's Backpages

Chrome: Half Machine From The Sun (King of Spades)

Frances Morgan, The Wire, January 2014

CHROME's Alien Soundtracks and Half Machine Lip Moves were released in 1978 and 1979, which makes them contemporaries of Mad Max, Philip K Dick's VALIS, La Dusseldorf's Viva, The Cramps' 'Human Fly' and Secondhand Daylight by Magazine — a possibly useful set of vectors within which to place drummer Damon Edge and guitarist/vocalist Helios Creed's dystopian psychpunk prowl, which reached its brief peak with those two albums. 

The San Francisco group made acid rock for listeners for whom LSD was less a portal to hippy enlightenment than a way of wiring oneself into the matrix of now, amplifying its ecstasy, anger, lust and paranoia. Their influence would surface later in groups like The Jesus Lizard and Butthole Surfers, with Amphetamine Reptile releasing Creed's solo albums in the 1990s.

Total word count of piece: 342

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.