Thee Headcoats: Thief/Automatic Love 45

360 Twist! Records

Billy Childish has been merging garage punk and sleazy blues for so long it's nearly reflexive for him, but he still pulls it off more convincingly—and with more gumption—than most of his disciples/competition. “Thief” is fully fried garage R&B, tasered back to life with a wobbly approximation of the Bo Diddley beat and Childish's typical Cockney ravings, this time a touching ode to ale-fueled jealousy: “A tailor sewed her a brand-new coat/Now I slit that tailor's throat.” Childish repents on the b-side with a bit of gospel-colored tremolo twang about a bridge-dwelling Onanist.

—John Pecorelli

Alternative Press magazine