Album Review- Crocodiles

 I’ve been following the Crocodiles for awhile. Going back to the core of the band’s previous incarnation as the jazz punk (think Black Flag) band The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower. During a low point in the local scene, I was lucky to catch them at all a places, a botanical center.

In 2009 and 2010, Crocodiles were near the top of the indie world, with two albums for Fat Possum. The name change (think Echo and the Bunnymen) was a clue to where their influences were coming from.

For me, the scene that they were affiliated with- influenced by shoegaze and otherwise lo-if noise pop sounds- is among the greats. Many of the band members that either funneled through The Crocodiles or shared a stage with them- make a list of some of the best bands of that era- Dum Dum Girls, Blank Dogs, Cold Cave, Wavves and A Place to Bury Strangers.

The band has remained busy, if no longer in the indie limelight. In 2020, they released three cassettes (yes, and digital downloads) consisting of cover songs.

What I never expected was that these recordings (collected this year as the nsfw-titled The Complete Sh-tty Times) would be one of my favorite recordings of the year.

There are two things to consider. One is that the duo really nails a certain sound. It’s that sound that made them big a decade ago- certainly influenced by the Jesus and Mary Chain (dipped in the same 60s pop influences the Chain would show) and next door to the Pixies, the Velvet Underground and the second gen Jesus and Mary Chain influenced bands that immediately preceded the Crocodiles like BMRC and the Raveonettes.

The second is that the 18 covers are certainly not the normal. They are very obscure. Even the most recognizable songs are fairly unknown- Freda Payne’s Band of Gold, Hanging Around from Lou Reed’s Transformer, a song off of the first Love album, and early Madonna single “Burning Up”. From there it seems to get exponentially obscure - Robyn Hitchcock, East River Pipe, Henry Badowski, Zounds and a list of great lost punk bands and great early 80a “lost” singles.

It is the perfect covers album for those two reasons. Sending the listener across the internet for the originals, while digging some addictive covers.