This two track release from garage rockers The Lemon Drop Gang presents the band’s first new music since 2020’s cult sensation ‘I’m Not The One!’, and for those who loved that full length release, these tunes will certainly be hailed as a welcome return. New listeners will, perhaps, have to work slightly harder to reap those listening rewards, but they’re very much there, and should present themselves very definitely somewhere around the fourth play.
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MAD MOJO JETT – Get Your Mind Straight
Imagine a band that takes the energy and ferocity of The Cramps and fuses that with the DIY charm off 60s obsessed garage rockers Gallows Birds, adds a little surf rock cool, a pinch of R&B infused pub rock and a smidgeon of The Real Kids’ proto punk, and the chances are, you’d end up with something that sounds a bit like Mad Mojo Jett. That might sound a little messy in theory, but scratch below its fairly raucous surface, and you’ll discover a band with a timeless appeal. A pandemic collaboration between Joe Holland (Low Rats), Eric Levy (Jet Kick) and Monet Wong & Madalyn Rowell from The Toxenes, this is a quartet that’s big on energy and even bigger on garage rock thrills, creating a sound that’s retro yet timeless. Their musical moods value rawness, but the songs latch onto some major hooks along the way.
CINDY LAWSON – Hey Santa / Mr. Scrooge
Back in the dim and distant past of the mid 80s, at a time when The Cars were still chart toppers and The Replacements hadn’t quite made the jump to a major label deal and full-blown melodies, there was a rock ‘n’ roll band called The Clams. That name has since been hijacked by a surf rock band, but the original Minnesota Clams were a great vehicle for garage rock riffs and massive hooks. A lot of people have only really caught up with them via the Rum Bar Records compilation ‘The Complete Clams’ (issued in May 2022), but it’s clear that decades after they disbanded, The Clams were a band with a huge potential. At the very tip of their musical iceberg, ‘He’s Like Heroin’ presented them like a huge-voiced, female fronted Stooges; ‘Give Me A Reason’ served up sixties garage pop loaded with bubblegum sweet melodic hooks and ‘The Dangerous Kind’ showed them dabbling with something much punkier, but with equally cool results. The Clams were a band that often sounded great, no matter what.
THE DIRTY TRUCKERS – The Tisbury Joneser
The release this album in 2022 marks the end of a decade long silence from Boston rockers The Dirty Truckers. It’s not that the band members have been absent in that time, of course: frontman Tom Baker has released enjoyable works, both solo and with his other band, The Snakes (also featuring the Truckers’ John Brookhouse); guitarist Tad Overbaugh released a solo album in 2015, and drummer John Lynch released a truckload of material with his “other” band, Watts. In addition, an excellent digital compilation, ‘Second Dose’, also provided potential new fans with a handy recap. Whichever way you approach it, the Truckers left their fans with plenty to enjoy during the lengthy sabbatical.
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.