Twisted Teens : " Florida Water Blues"

 

This duo has gotten a great deal of hype for their jangly take on punk, blending garage boogie with grunge and 90s indie rock. New Orleans is not the place I would expect this to come from, but it makes sense over time. The first song works well, but I am going to need more dynamics as the album progresses, as a full album of this won't work for me. The second song counters this malady but brings in some blues-based clean guitar and more swagger. Yes, it is a step away from punk, but it works. 'Swamp" is the first song that feels more like filler, and the truth is I already have the Viagra Boys who do this better.

The title track has them mumbling along with an acoustic strum that sounds like any band that could be playing any dive bar. They continuethe rockn roll jangle on "Guided Thunder", Part of the problem lies in the vocals, which are the same for every song. Not every one hasto beMike Patton, but I prefer a more dynamic performance in this regard. "Top of the World HwyNo 2" has some atmosphere in the background that marginally help butwe are beginning to hit monotony. "Cncealed Weeping" is not as interesting as "Riding," which has more of a groove and a better vocal performance.

Things continue to be hit of miss as "Business" is an interesting song while "Javelina" feels less inspired even with it's cocuntry influence. "Weather the Season" has more of a 50s feel."Dancer" finds someone coasting over the tension being built. At this point, the vocal totally bored me. It ends with the strum of "Sun Go Down," which is pretty run of the mill. I'll give this a7.5 as it is interesting for what it is for people who are looking for this sort of thing, but it's not my thing.

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The Planchettes : "the Truth"

Of all the post-punk revival bands I think this is the first that I have heard influenced by the Cramps. The male vocals are really crazed at times, though over all their is more of a punk vibe to his vocals. The guitar tone is pretty authentic. It's more of a twangy cow punk on the punchier "Mourning Sun" . There is more of a 60s garage rock feel to "Let's Last Forever". I can see hippies dancing to this and not the Charles Manson kind.  Not only is the bass player hot , but she can crank out a solid groove. The horror thing was thrown around in their press release, but this is the first song where lyrically it is in your face. The vocals improve on this one, they were not bad before , just more refined here. The guitar playing on this album is really solid if you like the early days of rock n roll.

The title track is more up beat , but not as interesting as the previous songs and feels like run of the mill rock n roll that is playing it more safe than the other songs.  "She's So Violent" is like if the Rolling Stones got method out. It's more punk than Keith and the Boys normally are. So this is not just Cramps worship. As the album progresses  it gets more rock n roll. I expect something a little darker from a song called "Death in  Bloom".  Midway into the album it's more garage rock and nothing like the Cramps at all aside from the fact they are playing electric instruments. He uses a throatier lower vocal on "Empress of Fools" . The song rides tension without giving the pay off.

They do prove they are good at just playing straight up rock n roll on "Everyone Else" . They continue to boogie. Their bassist also lends her voice to this one. They do talk about suicide  and the end of the world. I am not sure I would say those things are horror in and of themselves, but they can be elements of it. I had to listen to listen to "Angel's Wing " a couple times before it clicked.  They are great at this style of rock n roll I guess the problem I had was I was hoping this would be darker and more horror focused, as it is they do a fine job of capturing the sound they are after. I will give this album an 8.

Gothtober : Trashlight : "Wilted"

It was about 8 years ago when I became aware this post-punk revival was happening. It has been a tricky thing for these bands to maneuver as I want them to be true to the time period they are paying homage to but not directly rip off any one band. Then there are two camps they can fall into post-punk or goth- if they fall into post-punk I want more post than punk. If they are goth I want them to have some depth. This band out New Orleans falls into the goth camp and has a great deal of strength. They are dreamy, yet dark. Their guitar has that bat cave reverb without them sounding like thinly veiled Cure covers. Their strength is the inter play of the male and female vocals which keep them from sounding like any one band.

When they are not sailing towards the clouds of shoe gaze they can build effective tension. Sometimes these things collide in odd ways like they swirl of "Honey Insulation" . I think it's the pulse of this song that is it's saving grace as the shadows they cloak it in get a little murky. The female vocals take center stage on "Wilted". She has a less biting tone than Siouxsie taking an approach with more in common to the early 90s shoegaze bands. Things get more punk angst on "In Dreams" though this is tempered with atmosphere and moody groove from their bass player. The drums tend to ride on more of a tribal drone.This is a gothier take on shoe gaze that works really well as this song grew on me with repeat listens.

There is a brilliant blend of driving tension and dark atmosphere on "the Harrows" . The tend emotes into a aggression that can come out side ways as more of a snarl. The drone once form more of a droning pound, which to their credit keeps them away from the hi-hat like disco beat half the post-punk revival band default to . The production is interesting while the album leans in the Bat Cave direction, the layers of guitar come across clearly.I'll give this album a 9 as even when it gets lost in the shadows of the back alleys they are haunting it's atmosphere is still compelling .

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