Mondo Wave’s ‘Quarantine Dream’ EP is potentially one of the greatest things to emerge from a troubled world. You might well think you’re tired of lockdown recordings and releases playing on the themes of viruses and quarantine, but this band are here to set you straight. Their 2021 release is a total blast; a short, sharp dose of garage punk that makes New Bomb Turks appear over polished and tired, and reduces The Hives to seeming like an over-commercial prospect. In a little over thirteen minutes, this will smash you into oblivion and make you remember all the best rough and ready garage punk noise of the 90s whilst still sounding new and exciting.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
GIA G – Cosmic Wave EP
Following a string of self-released singles, the ‘Cosmic Wave’ EP is guitarist Gia G’s first outing for Sliptrick Records, sometime home for groove metallers Bless The Dead and Canadian prog metal titans Red Cain. Perhaps more importantly, her move to the European metal label places her alongside fellow fretboard melters Dr. Schafausen and Age of Fire, giving her a step up.
The three tracks that make up ‘Cosmic Wave’ often value melody over showboating, as you’d expect from someone whose chief influences include the legendary Jeff Beck. With Eddie Van Halen squarely in the frame as her other major love, her material still offers plenty for listeners who love a busier approach. With each of the EP’s tunes taking on a very distinctly different identity, it creates a very effective musical CV, despite being rather short.
FRED ABONG – Yellowthroat
Released towards the end of a troubled 2020, at a time when the Coronovirus global pandemic appeared to be at its height, Fred Abong’s first full length album ‘Our Mother of Perpetual Help’ was a suitably moody affair. Comprised of songs largely played from an oddly tuned acoustic guitar and featuring lyrics that captured a genuine emotional fragility, its lo-fi charms felt like a step up from his earlier, hastily recorded EPs.
J PROZAC – Won’t Let Go
When J Prozac released the ‘Building Blocks’ single in January 2022, it felt as if the punk musician was on the cusp of releasing some of the best music of his career. In a little over two minutes, that track made old school pop punk sound vital again thanks to some classic sounding riffs and a massive chorus that the likes of The Mr T Experience would have taken to glory in their 90s prime. Even J’s slightly gruff voice couldn’t keep the track’s bubblegum-ish traits in check, and overall, it supplied big thrills in such a way that proved classic pop punk will never die.
Its parent album ‘Won’t Let Go’ very much delivers on that track’s huge promise, but isn’t necessarily the straight up punk record that fans are expecting. Within its eleven songs, Prozac steers through punk and pop punk moods with ease, takes in some ragged heartland rock, and has even been unafraid to chuck in a ballad. It might make the album seem a little more scattershot to an outsider, but nothing could be further from the truth. With the help of massive hook after massive hook, J hits the mark pretty much every time – and there are even instances where the material is great enough to rival ‘Building Blocks’ in terms of that all important memorability factor.
THE LICKERISH QUARTET – Threesome Vol. 3
The Lickerish Quartet’s second EP (released in January 2021) was a slow burner. A few of its great power pop qualities were immediately obvious, but in terms of all round hook-filled joyousness, it certainly didn’t provide that immediate sugary hit you’d expect from three ex-members of Jellyfish. In time, of course, the band’s sophisticated pop qualities shone through, and a couple of the songs eventually sounded like the best things that Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Tim Smith and Eric Dover had delivered in some time.