Review
Bogos
Empty Bottles

Voodoo Rhythm (2022) Christopher D

Bogos – Empty Bottles cover artwork
Bogos – Empty Bottles — Voodoo Rhythm, 2022

Sante, Salud, Prost ,Salute ,Saúde,Proost, Skål,Kippis,3а здоровье,乾杯, 건배,干杯 ,Şerefe ,في صحتك , לחיים , ΥΓΕΙΑ , Na zdrowie ,Na zdraví, Cheers!

I sauntered into the dimly lit old man's bar closing the door behind the impeding swirling snowstorm brewing outside. Upon my unnoticed entry(this was no Cheers!-no cries of Norm were echoed by patrons) my eyes were immediately drawn to a weathered figure slumped in a corner booth watching the ash of his cigarette burn into a long lingering arc. He sat alone, hunched over a glass of whiskey and a cheap draft. He wore a tattered cap pulled low over his one eye. Despite his ragged, chiselled appearance, there was something about him that commanded a secondary sideways glance. As I approached, he looked up and met my gaze with eyes that had clearly seen more than their fair share of hardships, pain and utter despair. He motioned for me to sit down not before shooting a quarter asking me to throw it into the jukebox and select The Pogues- Dirty Old Town.

Empty Bottles are going down, one by one and two by two. Hey Mr, Bartender slide me one of the house specials down the well-worn wooden bar.
Bogos are the ultimate theme of this bar. Hailing from Bern Switzerland -Bogos sound like a twisted Pogues, Mano Negra, Gogol Bordello, 16 Horsepower interspersed with a little Merle Haggard, Cash and Flatts and Scruggs. Stripped down toe tapping, drunken jig, arm locked in arm and fisticuff bare-knuckle, fuckle, punch em up beer swillin' slobbering rubbery leg chicken dance.
Bogos are the life source of the stiff corpse at a party. Want to wallow in misery and self-doubt and depression I would suggest digging out your Smiths' greatest hits compilations.
99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall etc

8 Large Pints Out of Ten!

Bogos – Empty Bottles cover artwork
Bogos – Empty Bottles — Voodoo Rhythm, 2022

Recently-posted album reviews

Professor and the Madman

Dreamworld
FullerTone Records (2026)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Brand New World”, “12 Strings and Tambourines”, “Adams Street”, “Temple of Madness” It’s rare to find these days. A band (or maybe supergroup, in this case) that defies all genre boundaries and just…creates. Alfie Agnew (Adolescents, D.I.) and Sean Elliott (D.I., Mind Over Four) are familiar names from Orange County’s early 80s hardcore and psych-punk scenes, but … Read more

Chat Pile

Who Loves The Sun
Flenser (2026)

If Chat Pile were a film, they would be a dark thriller. The kind that builds tension until the end and, once we reach the third act, still might not ever show the killer. It's plodding and intense and, while I just pulled out a genre reference, the best thing about the band is how much they defy conventional musical … Read more

Generacion Suicida

Hombre Nuevo
Vitriol (2026)

On the tail end of Autogramm’s 2018 tour of Mexico (what little I remember of that week now is a lot of pulque and not a lot of sleep) I visited the one punk record store in CDMX that I found via googling where to buy bootleg punk t-shirts. I’d already visited Venas Rotas Discos earlier on the trip and … Read more