Mike Watt and the Go! Team's Sam Dook Team Up as CUZ

BY Alex HudsonPublished Mar 5, 2014

Mike Watt and Sam Dook come from different worlds, as the former is a punk bassist with the Stooges, Minutemen and many others, while the latter is a multi-instrumentalist for energetic British band the Go! Team. Nevertheless, the two evidently found some common ground, since they are releasing an album together as CUZ.

They will issue their tamatebako record on May 12 through Bleeding Hearts Recordings. Before then, a limited-edition run of 200 vinyl boxes will come out on Record Store Day (April 19).

As a press release explains, Watt and Dook became friends after meeting at an Australian festival back in 2006. They began sharing home demos and continued to exchange ideas through occasional meet-ups and Skype sessions. Their eight-year dialogue has finally resulted in this LP.

The album takes its name from a Pandora-like box in a Japanese legend, and the press release describes the record like this: "a heady mix of whisky-gnarl, motoric riff, thrift-store percussion and toy synth, the effect is a tight, groovy, ever-elusive, outsider pop."

Watt and Dook both sing, and other vocals come from Beat writer Charles Plymell and the Go! Team's Kaori Tsuchida, among others.

Check out the tracklist below and the album art above.

tamatebako:

1. Houdini
2. France Gnarl
3. Song for Ronnie
4. W/ No Bee Sting
5. Thinkin' 'Bout Thinkin'
6. Tamatebako
7. Slipstream
8. Fickle Fortune
9. Sand and Bones
10. Spinning Basket Net
11. The Wheel and the Ring

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