Boston rock ‘n’ rollers Watts dropped their second full length LP ‘On The Dial’ in 2010. Its selection of trashy tunes that by and large sounded like a collision between mid-70s Stones and New York Dolls overseen by Tommy Stinson and the band were more than happy to wear the influences proudly upon their collective sleeve. A few years on, ‘Flash of White Light’ essentially brings more of the same, though it’s obvious from the outset that the hooks are bigger and the general swagger comes with more confidence than before. The core of the Watts sound, however, remains unchanged.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
THE MAD DOCTORS – Snake Oil Superscience
Brooklyn space-psych rockers The Mad Doctors released their EP ‘Fuzz Tonic!’ via Doctor Gone Records in the spring of 2013; its five echo drenched numbers gave an insight into their hybrid sound of garage rock/hard psych and surf music, but its limited recording budget hampered listening enjoyment to a degree. A year on, their first full-length ‘Snake Oil Superscience’ shows a great improvement.
ADOLESCENTS / SVETLANAS – Hot War split EP
This 2015 split brings together four previously released tracks from a couple of great punk bands. Like most great splits, each band represents a different country and in the case of Hot War, the US and Russia come together in a full throttle punk face off, clawing chunks from each other in a ten minute bout.
JIM BOGGIA – Fidelity Is The Enemy
Following a stint as a jobbing songwriter and working with and/or supporting well-known singer songwriters Juliana Hatfield and Amanda Marshall, power pop performer Jim Boggia delivered a storming full-length debut in 2001. ‘Fidelity Is The Enemy’ takes in many moods during its old fashioned created- for-two-sides-of-vinyl-length forty two minutes. Every one of those moods is as fully realised as the previous, showing Boggia to not only be a strong songwriter, but an arranger of some confidence.
ANXIETY JUNKIES – Sorry EP
Hailing from Savannah, Georgia Anxiety Junkies are a four piece hardcore punk band revelling in the sounds of the early 80s. Although a little looser in feel, this demo EP recalls much of the attitude within bands like Reagan Youth, early 7Seconds and Minor Threat.