One of my all-time favorite obscure (even for ME) discoveries is Timur Bimp Jones, a San Francisco musician who released some unusual punk-ish records in the early 80s. The reason I bring up my buddy Bimp-y (yes, of course I eventually got in touch with him!) is this new Bilders 7-inch carries a lot of the qualities I’ve always ascribed to TBJ, including a tough-to-pin-down, quirky, hauntingly melodic vocal presence, and arrangements that invert/subvert/pervert the idea of punk almost completely, to the point where you wonder why they can even be considered ‘punk.’ But ‘punk’ The Bilders are, and they’ve been honing their craft since those crazy, aforementioned early 80s, blowing through 15 members at one time or another (including members of The Clean and other NZ compats) and making it onto the much-respected roster of Siltbreeze. What they have to offer the scene now is simple: Thinking-man’s punk with lyrics you’ll want to follow along with, recorded under dreadful conditions and featuring quasi-drumming that sounds to be submerged in some way, whether it be under water, quicksand, or the feeble minds of the commercial music biz. (That still exists, kind of!) And — this is important — even though the lyrics jump into some heavy stuff, it never sounds like the singer is reciting a litany of grievances. The music, albeit delightfully shoddy production-wise, comes first. Another winner from Smartguy, one of Cerberus’ only windows into the crazy-fertile punk happenings in NZ and Australia…
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