Garage Rock

New album: The Liquorice Experiment || How Many Lies

By / / Garage Rock / 1 Comment

The men responsible for The Liquorice Experiment hail from Valencia, Spain, but nowadays they can be found more often in London, UK. Although they are too young to have consciously experienced the sixties, that is the period in which they live musically. They’ve been on the stage with their garage beat for about six years, and they’ve shared quite a few tunes through their Bandcamp page, but now their full-length debut album How Many Lies has been released with new and original material. You’ll hear twelve appealing R&B stompers of around three minutes, with an instrumental called Outro halfway through. All songs are energetic and upbeat, but not raucous and untamed – chock full of danceable rhythms and lively hooks.



How Many Lies is out now digitally and soon on vinyl LP – in mono – through Snap!! Records Spain.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Regal Cheer || Cans

By / / Garage Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Ready for a new and exciting guitar-drums duo? Feel like jumping and shouting? Please meet Regal Cheer, who deliver short and snappy punk/garage rock from Brighton, UK. Apparently Max Cleworth (guitar, vocals) and Harry Menear (drums, vocals) have very open-minded neighbours, because the uninhibited two-piece makes a lot of noise in their living room or kitchen (or wherever it suits). On their debut album Cans you’ll hear ten songs – as uncomplicated as their cover art – in less than eighteen minutes, all straightforward, raucous and urgent. At the moments they capture their frustration in gang vocals, they delight even more.



Cans is out now digitally, on cassette and 12″ vinyl through Beth Shalom Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Class || But Who’s Reading Me?

By / / Garage Rock, Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

Discovering a new favorite band never gets old, especially when said band appears to be constantly writing and recording new material. Class (Tucson, Arizone) made an impactful entrance to underground music a mere 8 months ago. In that period, the band released an EP, a LP, and here is another EP (!) – out today on Tape through Feel It Records. That makes 17 songs (plus two LP alternates on the new EP) in total, and I have yet to hear a Class song I am not excited about.

On the But Who’s Reading Me EP, Class take a slightly more straightforward approach compared to their Epoca De Los Vaqueros LP. Whereas I earlier described the band’s sound as “equal doses of ’70s rock, powerpop and punk” and elements of “’60s Velvet Underground,” I think this EP tilts strongest to late ’70’s punk.

For a band not particularly lacking in contagious songs, Inspect The Receipt reveals the most poppy and catchy side of Class yet. If the rest of the EP weren’t so great, I probably would have played the song on repeat throughout the day. But the rest of the EP is THAT great. No News Could Please, for example, is the perfect opener. The first 25 seconds is a masterclass in how to start a punk song. The alternate version of Left In The Sink is another classic, shining bright in all of its familiar glory – Cockney Rebel is the other alternate LP track to close out the EP, adding some extra snottiness to the original version.

With the label (Feel It Records) hinting upon even more new Class stuff in the pipeline, what a way to start the weekend!




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of January 2023

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, eg as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are – in random order – ten of our favorite covers from last month – links to the pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

In January we heard new cover albums from Ryan Adams (Springsteen’s Nebraska), Kepi Ghoulie (new wave on Full Moon Fever), Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps (Beatles classics with soul: With a Little Help from Her Friends), but also many more successful reinterpretations. The next ones enchanted us the most.

Baby Please Don’t Go || Cover: Lola Lola || Original: Traditional
The theme is probably several hundred years old, but Big Joe Williams (1935), Muddy Waters (1953) and Them (1964) popularized it, and still Baby, Please Don’t Go is widely covered in all possible genres. This month a nice cowpunk version of Dash Rip Rock came out, but this exotic popcorn banger from Portuguese R&B outfit Lola Lola is even more exciting – they ensure that the classic remains a hit on the dance floor in 2023. Out now digitally and on vinyl 7″ through Chaputa! Records.

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Dusted || The 10 Best Cover Songs Of January 2023Read More »

New album: Running Man || Running Man

By / / Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Indie Rock, Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

Running Man (Rock Island, Illinois) may be a new project, but its members are scene veterans. Skip Greer (Wynona Riders, and currrent Dead Kennedys frontman) is the band vocalist, and he is joined by musicians with a history in bands like Mondo Drag, The Multiple Cat, Humans, Lord Green, Meth and Goats, and Tambourine: Jamie Warren, Chad Gooch, Dennis Hockaday, and Patrick Stolley. Their 8-song self-titled debut rocks pretty hard in old school fashion. Running Man are not necessarily a proto punk band, nor a power pop or garage band, but all of these sonic directions are present in their sound. It’s unpolished, slightly offbeat and quite original. Running Man seems to operate in the same exciting corner as The Cowboys and Class. This is definitely recommended listening if you like those bands.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Traumahelikopter || Save Yourself

By / / Garage Rock, Power Pop / Leave a Comment

Exactly ten years after the release of their self-titled debut album, Dutch garage rock band Traumahelikopter is back with their fourth LP, defiantly titled Save Yourself – an indictment of selfishness. The idiosyncratic bassless trio – Mark van der Ploeg (vocals, guitar), Daan van Dalen (guitar) and Roel van Berloo (drums) – from Groningen rock city basically still does the same as back then, although a little more thoughtful and a little less boisterous, and that suits them well. The ten new songs are energetic, melodic and catchy, with appealing lyrics and strong varied guitars and vocals. Expect a kind of mix of the power pop of Shoes and the alternative rock of Jimmy Eat World, with a clear sound and a slightly melancholy vibe. Highlights on this record are Can’t Resist, Leaving On Your Own (featuring Hanna Lahaije), Please Don’t and Next Move.

Save Yourself is out now on CD and vinyl LP through Excelsior Recordings.

Add to wantlist: Discogs || Excelsior

New EP: The Playground Bullies || Don’t Worry, She Gets Fed by Strange Men

By / / Garage Rock, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

For a moment I thought I had discovered a new cool band from New York, but a bell rang in the distance. Hadn’t I heard this music before? The Playground Bullies appears to be a new project by Max Foreign Keen from Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), whose EP The Evangelist Forgets Her Creature At The Grocery Store we wrote about a few months ago. You can hear three of those tunes on Don’t Worry, She Gets Fed by Strange Men, but in lo-fi garage rock versions that are as raw as they are irresistible. (In my opinion even better than the originals, a good reason to share them again.) Gritty vocals, strong hooks and poetic lyrics? Check! If you are not yet convinced by the amazing opening song Raison D’Être, you will be after the ten minutes that the closing track One Less Mouth to Feed (at the Eucharist) lasts.

Don’t Worry, She Gets Fed by Strange Men is out digitally via Burner Phone Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (Note: On Max Foreign Keen’s personal Bandcamp page you can find an EP with the demo versions, under the title I Sell My Body For Spare Parts)

New album: Neverland Ranch Davidians || Neverland Ranch Davidians

By / / Garage Rock, Psych, Punk / Leave a Comment

Billed as “smoldering, psychotic R’n’B like the missing link between Blues Explosion, Suicide, and Stax Records,” here’s the self-titled debut album from the Neverland Ranch Davidians. (I think we can also safely mention The Dirtbombs and The Gun Club as reference names.) That the L.A. trio mixes punk, blues, rockabilly, psych and soul doesn’t say much in itself, it’s about the who and what. We’re talking about Tex Mosley (guitar, vocals), known from The Hangmen, Will Bentley (guitar, backing vocals) and Max Hagen (drums, backing vocals), and their sound is raw, primitive, distorted and authentic. They cover Link Wray (Butts In My Beer) and Ray Charles (I Believe to My Soul) in a creditable way, but the ten original songs here are even more powerful. As far as I’m concerned, Rat Patrol and Knee On My Neck stand out, respectively a garage rock banger with doo-wop influences and a blues rocker with a message, but actually the whole record is fascinating. Those heavy guitars and screamed lyrics – breathtaking.

Neverland Ranch Davidians is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Heavy Medication Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Heavy Medication

New single: CC Voltage || Berliner Pilsner

By / / Garage Rock, Power Pop, Punk / 1 Comment

Last time we checked in with CC Voltage aka Chad Cornies, he was casually cycling his way to a studio booked by Richard Branson, who gave his band Autogramm one final opportunity to record a hit. Of course, you never put all of your money in one basket, so Cornies also has been working on a side project: a two-song single that will be out on 7″ through Spanish label Snap! Records.

While CC Voltage’s name may be on the cover in a huge font size, these two songs are by no means a solo endeavour. Cornies reached out to some (former and current) band members from The Spitfires and The Black Halos (James Solyom, Jay Milette, Rich Jones, Graham Tuson) as well as James Sullivan (More Kicks) to help him out. It sounds like they had a blast.

This resulted in two excellent sleazy, glammy and poppy rock’n’roll tracks that are multilayered and pack a punch. Title track Berliner Pilsner, referencing Cornies’ decade living in the German city, is a major hit. Flipside Bummer Party is dynamic and has an earworm chorus. Two songs that get better the louder you play them. And vice versa.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Shang Hi Los || Aces Eights & Heartbreaks

By / / Garage Rock, Power Pop / 1 Comment

When The Shang Hi Los debuted their Kick It Like A Wicked Bad Habit EP two years ago, we immediately fell in love with the Boston-based rock ‘n’ roll outfit (not entirely unexpected, given the band members’ past, but that aside). So good news that Jen D’Angora (vocals, guitar), Dan Kopko (vocals, guitar), Lee Harrington (bass, vocals) and Chuck Ferreira (drums, percussion) are now back with a full-length album called Aces Eights & Heartbreaks. Once again Jen and Dan have managed to write strong songs, and the synergy between their strong voices has remained, but their musical palette has broadened a bit. In hit single Billy, for example, they inimitably combine a spaghetti western soundtrack with a girl group sound, in which halfway through there also appears to be room for a guitar solo that would not have been out of place in an 80s hard rock anthem. Uniting the best of the past 60 years, The Shang Hi Los show that rock ‘n’ roll still is alive and kicking.


Aces Eights & Heartbreaks is out now digitally and on CD through Rum Bar Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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