the crimea - "lottery winners on acid" (from the tragedy rocks lp, available for purchase here.)

in brief : much better than all other rock songs that have drug references in the title.

ah, there's no other way to do it: it's been a long, strange trip for the crimea.

still there? "lottery winners on acid" was originally issued on cd in 2002; reissued in 2004; and now released on their debut lp in 2005. john peel said it was one of the best songs he'd heard in recent years, and he put their "baby boom" in his festive 50 of 2003. an auspicious start, then, for a new band.

three years since their debut single, though, and they're still at the start--long time coming or not, it's a hell of a debut. the band have compared themselves to the beach boys: despite the drug reference, it's far less lysergic than anything that band recorded between 1967-69. rather, they sound like the beach boys in the way that the flaming lips and the delgados have sounded like that band: child-like, wonderful harmonies, skewed point-of-view. all that, and a guitar riff that sounds like a continuation of hendrix's "burning the midnight lamp" (and a domestic release, to boot!)

tragedy does rock after all.