Album Review: Bite the Wax Tadpole

The Hopkinsville Goblins is always a challenging review. If you want it done right, you really need some hard-broiled journalist from a bygone era on the job, not some gumshoe with a grudge like me.

My problem is there is really no comparison with anything else crossing my review desk, these reviews being my only exposure to music since shunning Spotify. But even Spotify’s algorithms wouldn’t be of any help to me, being that the influences behind this release are several generations removed from the ephemera the industry pushes these days.

A child well after the 60s, my only frame of reference here is The Hopkinsville Goblins themselves. Unfortunately for me then, like Hit the # Key and Mundivagrants before it, their new album Bite the Wax Tadpole is unique to the point of being almost indescribable.

Almost indescribable.

To those on the outside, yet to experience The Hopkinsville Goblins in all their quirky glory, you can expect something part-Rolling Stones, part-psychedelic jam band, part-Isaac Asimov. A spaceman schtick mixed with poetry espousing world concerns. Some kind of retro-futurist soundtrack to the death throes of Western Civilisation we’re living through. Unrestrained creativity left unchecked.

For Bite the Wax Tadpole they’re back to more stable ground, after the global sojourn of Mundivagrants. Perhaps a side effect of being allowed back outside following the lockdown that spawn that psychedelic jam session. Less pining to see the rest of the world, more pining to see less of the part we’re living in.

If you were a fan of Hit the # Key, then you’ll definitely love Bite the Wax Tadpole too. For the most part it’s that same post-60s funk n’ roll vibe, just with lyrics updated to fit the zeitgeist. Understandable. A lot has happened since 2020 that we need to get off our chest. That is to say we’re touching on topics like Trump’s Hitler Youth, Putin’s land grab, and ecological disaster here. I’m content to close my eyes and await the imminent apocalypse. The Hopkinsville Goblins, on the other hand, have something to say about it.

But it’s not all doom-and-gloom, no matter how much these dark times call for such feelings. We see the playful side of The Hopkinsville Goblins too – though we could argue their discography is evidence enough of their playful side. I have the chorus of It’s a Trap! in mind. It’s the earworm and hook of the album that one. There’s also Qbgone. Some kind of dubby remix taking aim of at conspiracy theorists. More of an art piece than a song, but of some interest none-the-less.

All-in-all, another interstellar release by an accomplished musician, with an established niche, and a knack for DIY, doing what they do best. Five stars.

You can find Bite the Wax Tadpole on The Hopkinsville Goblins Bandcamp.