Garage Rock

New EP: Manhattan Jamborees || Manhattan Jamborees

By / March 28, 2021 / Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

Despite everything, we live in great times musically. Wherever you are, with a few clicks of the mouse  you can access more songs than you could ever listen to, past and present. And so it can happen that three young Japanese guys are influenced by rockabilly, oldies, psychobilly, country music and Japanese pop from the 70’s / 80’s. Manhattan Jamborees – Ryo Kato (guitar / vocals), Keisuke Yamada (bass / vocals), and Hikaru Abe (drums / vocals) – just released their first (self-titled) EP, with five songs in the tradition of Stray Cats, Reverend Horton Heat, Roy Buchanan , Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Kenji Sawada. I don’t speak Japanese, so no idea what they sing about (except some words in the third song ;-)), but I can feel the music and the enthusiasm. And now you can enjoy it too. What a great time it is.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp 

New album: Civic || Future Forecast

By / March 26, 2021 / Garage Rock, Punk / 1 Comment

Today is extremely loaded with new releases. One I looked forward to the most is the debut full-length from a band that released one of my favorite singles of 2020, the phenomenal Melbourne punkband Civic. The A-side to that single, Radiant Eye, is the opening track on Future Forecasts. I’ve just listened to the rest of record and I’m floored. I could write a long post, but I am pretty sure many much bigger outlets will cover this. I hope they do, because this is a record that deserves to be heard. In short, Civic play late 70’s punkrock infused with awesome guitar riffs and solo’s and the intensity of bands like MC5 and the Stooges. A sound like that could overstay its welcome, with the songs becoming one giant blur of noise, but Civic sidesteps that pitfall on Future Forecasts, by adding plenty of variety in pace and intensity. For example, the awesome groovy rocker As Seen On TV is sandwiched between two straight up punk jams Another Day and Just A Fix. And what is perhaps the darkest sounding track on the record (Shake Like Death) is followed by the much brighter and very fun Back To You. Civic have manufactured an electric listening experience  and musthave for my record collection. They set the bar high for punk releases in 2021, and I am sure Future Forecasts will end up in many AOTY lists.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Flightless Records

‘New’ album: Rexxx || Pure Pleasure II

By / March 23, 2021 / Garage Rock, Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

Shame! Shame! Shame! Here is another “can’t believe I missed this one” posts. Let me introduce you to the latest addition to a long lineage of superb Midwest US powerpop bands: Rexxx.  This band from Milwaukee is made up of members of hardcorepunk band Sex Scenes, dreamy indiepop band Surgeons In Heat, and sleazy rock and roll band King Eye & The Squirts. Rexxx doesn’t sound anything like those bands though. This is punk infused late ’70s/early ’80s powerpop done right. From the killer opener Can’t Help It with its infectious guitar riff to the insanely catchy closer Animal, Rexxx’s debut Pure Pleasure II is twenty minute of rock-‘n’-roll worship that demands to be played at maximum volume. Originally, it was released in February of last year, but for those who missed it back then (guilty!), Big Neck Records will release it May 7th on seductive red vinyl. In all honesty, you don’t need a seductive vinyl color when your songs are this awesome.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Les Shirley || Forever Is Now

By / March 21, 2021 / Garage Rock, Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

Forever Is Now, the debut album of Montreal trio Les Shirley, has a budget friendly album cover with a hairmetal font. Add in song titles like Easy Target and Pick Up The Phone, and one could mistake this band for a Donnas ripoff. That’s definitely not the case. What do you get? Straightforward catchy pop tunes with a rock and roll edge, and a full guitar sound. Two-thirds of Les Shirley also play in NOBRO, so you may already know that these women have a knack for writing songs that earworm their way through your brain. Les Shirley is a different beast though, sounding somewhere between Wyldlife and Ex-Hex. Do not expect this record to shatter your world in terms of originality or complexity (who cares anyway), but it’s hard to find any fault in songs like sadgirlsclub, Courtney and hit single Fuck It I’m In Love. For radio stations that may object to that last one, Les Shirley even include a radio friendly version (Forget It I’m In Love).


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp 

New single: Slander Tongue || Ride

By / March 19, 2021 / Garage Rock, Glam Rock / Leave a Comment

13 months after they released their excellent self-titled LP, Berlin greasy glamgaragerockers Slander Tongue return in style with a two song single. It is inspired by lockdown fatigue, with the band “in need of a good time.” Fortunately, the two songs sound far from wearied. They have plenty of groove and energy. Out now on Slovenly Recordings.

“Now it’s May and I should be faraway // But I do the same thing as yesterday // This shit goes all year long // And I keep playing that song.“


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

Throwback Thursday: Palms || LOVE

By / March 16, 2021 / Garage Rock, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

To my surprise, I just found out that Australian indie rock band Palms have released a new single entitled Calling. Not bad at all, and cool that they still make music! It reminded me of LOVE, their great track from 2012, which can also be found on the album Step Brothers (2013). The song is backed by a fun video by Angela Bermuda, inspired by Hanna-Barbera cartoons and featuring heaps of A-list celeb cameos. One not to forget.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: The Scratch-Offs || The Scratch-Offs

By / December 10, 2022 / Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

What do you do when you’ve just formed a band and are excited about the songs you’ve been writing, but a pandemic leaves no room to perform? The Scratch-Offs, a garage-country-r’n’r-hybrid from Madison (Wisconsin), decided to use their free time to record their self-titled debut. The Scratch-Offs may be a new band, but they hardly lack experience: the band consists of past and current members of Jane Rose and the Deadend Boys, Westernwhere, Psychic Drag and the Smells. That experience pays off in the opening track WIS-60. The band cites the Stones and CCR as their influences and this song could be the lovechild of those two classic bands. It may be my favorite song on the record. The second track (Shit Attitude) offers some pleasant old tyme rock, with an infectious chorus. It’s followed up by the fun Chuck Berry indebted Down On A Thing. The rest of the album has plenty to offer as well. Justin Perkins mastered the record – does that guy ever sleep? But still, there’s that naggin’ feeling. I can’t help but feel how this particular brand of music is best experienced live in sweaty bars. Let’s hope we will be able to see this band perform rather sooner than later. The record is out digitally today, with LPs scheduled at the pressing plant, and CDs and cassettes in the works (pre-orders coming soon).


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Off Judy || Grow Up

By / March 11, 2021 / Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

Time for some fun? Then you’ve come to the right place with the Australian garage rock duo Off Judy. The cover picture of their EP Grow Up says it all: these two friends – Finn Mcildowie and Tom Cameron-Duncan – don’t want to grow up at all. Listen to the lyrics of opening track End of the Line: “When I think of those days I look back and I say // They were more than alright // And better than ok // Because at the end of the line // All we ever tried to find was // A way that we could have a good time // And that’s what we used to do.” These are four catchy, melodic songs that will definitely give you a good time. RIYL: Black Lips, The Molochs, Jacuzzi Boys.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Fake Fruit || Fake Fruit

By / March 10, 2021 / Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

Rocks In Your Head is a record label from San Francisco founded by Sonny Smith. I am a huge Sonny (and the Sunsets) fan, and I am excited by the early goings of this label, which clearly reflects Sonny’s broad musical tastes and knack for experimentation. Rocks In Your Head has already put out a solid compilation and albums by The Gonks and Galore and the most recent Sonny and The  Sunsets record. This week, the label released a debut by a band that probaby will release their next album on a much bigger label. Not because Rocks In Your Head is not a good fit, but because the band sounds like they are on the verge of breaking out to a bigger (huge?) audience. I am talking about Fake Fruit, whose self-titled record sounds chaotic yet focused, messy yet confident. The album is full of cool guitar riffs, and frontwoman Hannah D’Amato strikes just the right balance between singing and howling that works perfectly for this type of music. On the great opening track No Mutuals, there is a sonic similarity to Sleater Kinney, and album closer Milkman sounds like a Parquet Courts jam, but throughout the record, Fake Fruit have very much created their own niche. It’s a dynamic and diverse corner of the planet, with start-stop postpunk (Miscommunication, No Space For Residence), garagerock (Old Skin, Don’t Put It On Me), and indie rock balladry (Keep You, and the delightful Stroke My Ego). Don’t sit on this one folks!

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New single: Monsieur Paul & Les Solutions || Plagier Dutronc / Waiting For True Love

By / March 8, 2021 / Garage Rock / 1 Comment

If you just look at the posts today, you can see that the music taste of my fellow blogger is quite different from mine. We both check a lot of new sounds and sometimes you hear something that suits the other better. Niek pointed me to this single by Monsieur Paul & Les Solutions this afternoon with the comment ‘You’ll enjoy this one’ and he was right (thanks bro!). French garage rock, I like that indeed.

The English B side Waiting For True Love is nice, but the French A side Plagier Dutronc is extraordinary: the great lyrics tell in an entertaining way that contemporary bands stand on the shoulders of the heroes of the past: ‘Our goal is to follow suit to The Limiñanas // But for psyche rock, on the French side // You have to plagiarize Dutronc, that’s good!” Have you ever heard such original plagiarism?

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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