BOSS HOG Whiteout (City Slang)

Boss Hog is the part-time project of John Spencer (of Blues Explosion infamy) and his wife Cristina Martinez (both of whom were also once members of Pussy Galore, the ramshackle filth 'n' guitars collective that once covered The Rolling Stones' "Exile On Main St" album in its entirety and also spawned the similarly styled Royal Trux), and "Whiteout" is their fourth album, if I'm counting correctly. Produced by such unlikely partners in crime as Tore Johansson (who has worked with Saint Etienne and The Cardigans) and Andy Gill (ex-Gang Of Four), "Whiteout" sees their splattery past channelled into a shiny, technologically aware present. With its reliance on loops and programming and sporadic, stop-start melodies it sees Boss Hog veering dangerously close to territory already franchised by Garbage, although it must be said that Boss Hog sound more like Garbage with a particularly scabrous skin ailment, aided and abetted by Spencer's occasional almost comic greasy Elvis interjections. Not terrible, but whether there's room in your record collection for yet another band that sound, well, a bit like Garbage really, only you can decide.