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Michael Yonkers/Little Claw split 7"

There is something to be said for Michigan and scuzz rock. Of course there is the obvious MC5 and Stooges, and the more recent Wolf Eyes, and then there's this odd little 7" single. 

 

X! Records

In all honestly Michael Yonkers is from Minnesota, but that is beside the point, the label and Little Claw are Michiganders, so that's a fair enough lead-in.  Yonkers is elderly by rock standards (one year younger than Bruce Gilbert) but is still churning out dirty, dissonant rock.  The A side of this vinyl consists of two of his contributions, both are similar in their metronomic disco drum machine pulse, metaliic grinding (and home-made) guitar riffs. While "I Think" features vocals that are almost in line with ZZ Top, "The Drain" is pure instrumental sludge.  It's not hard to see this as an antecedent of Big Black or Wolf Eyes. 

The flip-side is Little Claw doing "Ice Age," hypnotic cyclical guitar riffs augmented with female vocals and oh-so-quiet drumming that just bursts forth towards the end.  Both sides sound as clean as the waiting room of a back alley abortion clinic, but I don't think it could sound the same any other way.