— winch
LINKS TO SELLERS:
21st century garage
Porch Ghouls (2003) Bluff City Ruckus (LP) Roman/Columbia (CK 87033)
Porch Ghouls
Bluff City Ruckus
2003
Roman/Columbia (CK 87033)
Produced by Greg Cartwright and the Porch Ghouls
Executive producer: Joe Perry
Debut (and apparently only) long player from this Florida/Memphis outfit, garage blues and back-porch electric Memphis stomp, letting the Tennessee hillbilly come through without sounding like rockabilly. Unlike their previous EP of mostly covers, all these songs are credited to band members.
It’s not a great album, just a good one, noteworthy 21st Century garage, produced by Greg Cartwright (Oblivions, Reigning Sound), released on Joe Perry’s Roman label . (The Aerosmith / Reigning Sound connection!)
— winch
LINK TO SELLERS:
The Hunches (2002) Yes. No. Shut It. (LP) In the Red 093
The Hunches
Yes. No. Shut It.
2002
In the Red 093
Loud. Punk. Rock. And Roll. Pressing the energy of their shows into vinyl for your listening pleasure …stomping outa all your garage idols…Stones, Saints, Sonics, Dolls, Brains…raw focused frenzy…rock and roll noise, hard as basement cement.
— winch
Downtown Boys (2015) Full Communism (LP) Don Giovanni Records
Second set from Downtown Boys…and girls…full-on no-holds-barred political punk…with horns…and energy to spare…”bi bilingual political dance sax party from Providence.”
— winch (author of
LINKS TO SELLERS:
The Growlers (2010 -2014)
This California outfit has managed to keep their oddball signature stew in tact while offering enough spice and variety to the recipe to keep it interesting.
Growlers. Hot Tropics. 2010. Everloving Records. Second set from this California beach-goth band…surf garage hillbilly rhythm and blues…exotica Polynesian waves washing up on campfire meeting of cowboys, the Cramps, Hank Williams, Beefheart, Link Wray, Love and the Doors…more acoustic and less frantic than most California bands in a somewhat similar mode…more for driving through the desert or sitting around the bonfire than dancing the boogaloo at the dancehall…noteworthy 21st century garage.
Gilded Pleasures. 2013. Everloving Records. This catches the beach-goth band in transition between the more raw sound of previous releases and the more polished sound of Chinese Fountain, the waves of surf, Asian and Polynesian washing over their cowboy hillbilly campfire. This is a good place to start.
Chinese Fountain. 2014. Everloving Records. This California pull their signature sound into a tighter ball of yarn for a more clear-eyed pop version of their beach-goth garage rock, here an 80s influence showing, likely keeping most of their fans, losing a few and likely picking up some new ones who found the early work a bit too raw.
— winch (author of
links to sellers:
Natural Child (2016) Okey Dokey (LP) Natural Child Records and Tapes NCRT001
Natural Child
Okey Dokey
2016
Natural Child Records and Tapes NCRT001
****recommended
Sixth set from Nashville’s Natural Child, first one on their own Natural Child Records and Tapes, garage rock Nashville style, one of the best 2016 has to offer.
–winch (author of
link to sellers (download, CD, vinyl):
Bleached (2013) Ride Your Heart (LP) Dead Oceans Records (DOC082)
Bleached
Ride Your Heart
Dead Oceans Records (DOC082)
Produced by Rob Barbato
**** recommended
Debut long player from this LA outfit, the band described at this point as sisters Jennifer and Jessica Calvin, all songs and most of the playing credited to the pair.
The sound clearly has a California feel, mixing many styles from the past: the garage, surf, and dreamy girl group of the sixties, the power pop and lots of Blondie of the 70s, the sonic of punk and the 90s mixed with a bit of the girl-group revival and pop rock of the 80s, even a bit of exotica (and maybe the hillbilly) of the 50s–for example Jessica adding lap steel to the Bo Diddley beat on “Guy Like You.”
For fans of sonic pop music, this debut set is worth a listen.
— winch (author of
La Misma (2016) Kanizadi (LP) estado tóx’co 023
Kickboxing with a pack of girls, endless rumpus stomp and jarring jabs, tons of fun and more than a little bit menacing, snapping at you in language you can’t understand (unless you’re maybe from Brazil or Portugal then maybe if they let you you can wrap your fingers around the fists and get some inside grin) snapping at the heels of some demons in a language any punk in the world is bound to understand.
It’s amazing to me that it’s the future now and people are still making kickass punk statements like this.
— winch
author of 
Coastlands.
Nude Beach (2010) s/t (LP)
Nude Beach
Self titled
2010
Mandible Records
Debut from this Brooklyn trio…power pop punk..sounding somewhat like Pittsburgh’s Beach Slang (who came after this band) and the Cynics (who came long before) and probably all the bands that influenced those bands…the Replacements… Springsteen…bands of the 60s–both the American garage power pop of that decade and bands like Buffalo Springfield…the earthy elements recalling Tom Petty…even chucking an easily recognizable instrumental nod to Memphis R&B, which is much appreciated since where would we be without the contributions of that town.
This is punk rock most anyone would enjoy, from your high school teacher to even your aging baby boomer aunt. Enjoyable set, noteworthy 21st century garage.
— winch (author of Junk Like That and Kalamazoo: Growing Up Sideways in the 1970s)
Sounds Good 