TS: Your favorite garage/psych revival band vs. those other ones that suck

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I like the Mooney Suzuki, The Shakedowns, Ted Leo, Cato Salsa. I hear about the Panthers, Erase Errata, Numbers, and so many more. I'm not sure if some of these bands even count as garage/psych revival bands, but they all keep getting lumped together in a sort of one-degree separation music geek matrix. I'm asking this to hear people's (descriptive, informed) opinions and hopefully figure out who to go see/listen to next. Oh, and the Vines? Fuck 'em.

― Tom Millar (Millar), Thursday, 5 December 2002 04:23 (twenty-two years ago)

king loser

― keith (keithmcl), Thursday, 5 December 2002 04:25 (twenty-two years ago)

love as laughter

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 5 December 2002 04:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Cato Salsa cause they're one of the more innovative ones, I didnt realize they were a garage rock revival band, and I really thought about it and said "Yeah... they kind of are, huh?"

Dont like Mooney Suzuki so much.

― David Allen, Thursday, 5 December 2002 04:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Billy Childish

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Thursday, 5 December 2002 04:57 (twenty-two years ago)

all revivalist bands suck once you listen to enough of the real thing. 4 years ago i used to love garage and surf but now i can't listen to anything recorded after 66.

anyways...
search: "fortune, maltese and the phabulous pallbearers"
destroy: mooney susuki and other bands that just wanna "RAWK", 80's revivalist garage-punk.

― ddd, Thursday, 5 December 2002 05:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Dave Q owns this thread but he never seems to come 'round much :(

― J0hn Darni3ll3 (J0hn Darni3ll3), Thursday, 5 December 2002 05:53 (twenty-two years ago)

i hesitate to lump Ted Leo, but since you brought him up, yes, i'll put him at the top of the heap. he's one of the only people these days with overtly 'retro' influences/vibe that doesn't annoy me, because he's clearly writing great songs of his own. i saw him open for the (International) Noise Conspiracy recently and the rift between style vs. substance (well, i hate that phrase - let's say schtick vs. songs) was amazing...and it was pretty depressing to see which side most of the audience was clearly on.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 5 December 2002 06:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I seem to recall Dave Q dismissing the whole lot of them, because he said the point of 60s garage was that they were trying their hardest to become pop stars. Wait, isn't that what all the nu-garagists are about? I guess it shows how much has changed in the past year and a quarter.

― Curt (cgould), Thursday, 5 December 2002 06:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Of the nu bands, I like the White Stripes. Do the Strokes count? I like them, too.

Some earlier revivalists I liked: Holly Golightly, Subsonics, Creeps, RFTC, some JSBX, Fleshtones.

― Curt (cgould), Thursday, 5 December 2002 06:50 (twenty-two years ago)

It took me some time, but I came around to the Strokes. I personally find the White Stripes dire and exhausting. The thing about the sixties bands is that, by and large, they were crappy players *really trying* to be good players, but that's obviously not the case anymore. The nu-garagists seem to want to be pop stars in order to save the charts from synthetic pabulum and bring back the goddamn Rock or whatever (or at least this is the sort of critical framework into which they have in my mind been permanently lodged), but I really think the old guys just wanted to write great songs and have some kicks. [I realize that this is probably a gross oversimplification.] The nu-garagists are just as tiresome to me -- and, I assume, in very much the same way -- as Reynolds' Soulboys must've been at that point in time.

― Clarke B., Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Curt because whether or not he meant to he's just proven himself to be the most stridently unsnooty nonhipster on this board.

If he comes out in favor of BRMC, he officially has balls proportional to those of a chimpanzee.

Word to the Curt.

P.S. Hey Clarke, you going to Interpol on Friday?

― Tom Millar (Millar), Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks, Tom, but that's so not gonna work. BRMC suck chimpanzee balls.

― Curt (cgould), Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:21 (twenty-two years ago)

It takes all kinds.

― Tom Millar (Millar), Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:26 (twenty-two years ago)

The Vines sound like Nirvana, nothing like psych/garage revival; and the White Stripes a lot like Led Zeppelin - those bands seem more 70s oriented; the Strokes sound like The Style Council - I like them; I'm really interested in the bands you mentioned like Mooney Suzuki - I haven't heard them - what do they sound like? Bands like The Detroit Cobras are kind of - too straight down the line, or something. I agree with what people have been saying about the 60s bands being 'free-er' - they were doing all kinds of pop (i.e. the variety on all those garage compilations, but also on shameless Rolling Stones records with ballads, etc.) - it's interesting that Daft Punk thanked The Seeds and Thirteenth Floor Elevators on their record. But maybe just French fashion?

― maryann (maryann), Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

ooh, maybe I should check out The Style Council then.

i'll admit that i still like a few JSBX albums, but only because Curt made it OK.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Supercharger and The Mummies... There are actually some Mummies reissues (on CD) coming out soon, if they're not out already. I find it kind of funny, since they proudly proclaimed "FUCK CDS" on the backs of their records. heh. I doubt the band has much to do with the reissues though. Either way- Mummies on CD! A good thing, for sure.

― Bobby D Gray (bedhead), Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, Tom, they're playing in Richmond on Saturday and I think I'll probably go! Sorry about my snarky comment on the other thread re: Cex and freestyling, by the way -- I was in foul spirits last night. [Are Interpol really nu-garage?]

― Clarke B., Thursday, 5 December 2002 07:53 (twenty-two years ago)

yes : dead moon, the drags, any billy childish, armitage shanks, any mick collins stuff, demolition doll rods, hentchmen, mummies/supercharger/trashwomen family, '68 comeback, bassholes.
no : grunge bands & bands that sound like the cult but they got '50s cars & strippers on their record covers.
the strokes seem like the only one of the new pop star garagists that are any good, white stripes sound ok on the radio, all those other guys seem to really suck.

― duane, Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the White Stripes..."Hotel Yorba" makes me feel so good I laugh, not 'cause it's funny, but 'cause it just feels so good. "The Two of Us are Gonna Be Friends" is so touching in a childlike way it's almost scary.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes: Railroad Jerk (their sound was a little wide to fit in neatly with anything, but "Hotel Yorba" is basically a RRJerk cover), Black Keys (more punk-blues than garage, but if yer gonna lump JSBX in, why not?), Them Wranch, the Shams (now Thee Shams), Chris & Tad (sound more "true" garage than anyone), uh, jeez, lotsa great bands, mostly though they wouldn't just fit into "Garage Revival". That's the difference between a COOL band and a GOOD band, a GOOD band can do stuff and take you places, but a COOL band is stuck between their wardrobe and their fuzztone pedal.

Someone said the White Stripes sound way like Led Zep, I think more early Heart. But they're definitely more in tune with the proto-metal arena-blues of the 70s than with the dorks with guitars Garage Band Explosion of the 60s. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Nu-G bands that suck: Vines (pee-ew! their press kit advertised them as Nirvana + Beatles, but they're more like Stone Temple Pilots + Oasis), Hootie & the Blowfish (how did frat-rock get from Louie, Louie to Let Her Cry?), the Walla Bees ( enough already! when these guys go away!), Jennifer Love Hewitt (I seriously doubt her claim that she was an original Dirtbomb)

― Emmet Matheson, Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Oblivians blows all shite previously mentioned out of the water. Too bad they're not around anymore.

― hstencil, Thursday, 5 December 2002 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Compulsive Gamblers and Deadly Snakes and Reigning Sound are pretty right awesome Oblivians detritus.

― Emmet Matheson, Thursday, 5 December 2002 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

the |\/|0D3Y L3|\/|0|\| own this so hard that they're sending out frickin company emails about missing items in the refrigerator! HIGH PRIORITY!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 December 2002 16:32 (twenty-two years ago)

What do you guys think of Danko Jones?
Is he nu-garage? Or what about the Tea Party? I think they're retro something.

― Horace Mann, Friday, 6 December 2002 00:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Dead Moon and The Drags - good, Compulsive Gamblers - gross

― maryann (maryann), Friday, 6 December 2002 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Hands down it's The Prisoners and Graham Day's current band The Solarflares who also 0wn this thread way more than any of the previous bands mentioned.

And since no one has namechecked the Brian Jonestown Massacre yet, I'm going to.

― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Friday, 6 December 2002 01:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Good call on the Fleshtones.

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Friday, 6 December 2002 02:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Just thought I should mention X and the Cramps.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 6 December 2002 04:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Cramps, yeah. They were so original, I never think of them as any kind of "revival". On the other hand, the last time I listened to the Barracudas and the Lyres, I couldn't tell what it was I heard in them back in the 80s. They both sounded a bit stodgy, not at all rude.

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 6 December 2002 04:41 (twenty-two years ago)

only ones i have records by: white stripes, the strokes and the dirtbombs

― minna (minna), Friday, 6 December 2002 06:09 (twenty-two years ago)

i did really want to buy a clone defects single once but i couldn't find it anywhere.

― minna (minna), Friday, 6 December 2002 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

in other words, duane is right!

― minna (minna), Friday, 6 December 2002 06:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The Stairs.. although they were a decade too early, apparently.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 6 December 2002 06:42 (twenty-two years ago)

also i was in king loser "when they were good" (© petra jane)

― d, Friday, 6 December 2002 09:06 (twenty-two years ago)

...Deadly Snakes, Dirtbombs and Bell Rays are my picks. as for the lame, check out spin or Rolling Stone, they're in there.

― chad, Sunday, 8 December 2002 00:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I love those Detroit Cobras! I'm glad the White Stripes are big stars because they look so cool. I'm seeing Erase Eratta ( who I dont consider to be garage revivalists) tonight btw.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 8 December 2002 00:23 (twenty-two years ago)

three years pass...

I am flipping out over the fact Tombot started this thread.

My new favorite folks, who I am sure Fritz Wollner will be able to say much about, are the Milky Ways, who are composed of veterans from other Montreal acts. Album's really good, I love the way that both the guitar and vocals have been recorded in particular (Harris Newman helped out, a nice touch).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

the reigning sound
the deadly snakes

these two bands go great in my rolling stones playlist.

― marbles (marbles), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

I don't follow it. The last time I thought there were some groups with vision doing this was early '90s: Gories, Mummies, Night Kings.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

I liked the Mono Men from that time too...
Most of the bands that I enjoy doing similar things are a) local, and b) hybrids of some sort or another. The Hard Lessons have this weird Italian-Nuggets-meets-Lucinda-Williams thing that I dig, and The Avatars sound like when Blondie was still doing '50s rock. They're playing with Nikki Corvette in just a little bit... And I still dig The Dirtbombs and The Paybacks.

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

i still really love that dungen album after all this time. i really liked the first gris gris album, but the second one was a stone cold bummer. maybe next time!

too many suck to mention.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

i can't keep track of all the montreal bands because basically it's all one big band with a revolving door of line-ups and band names with the same 10 people in endlessly mutating combinations... also look out for: spaceshits, del-gators, sexareenos, deathareenos, the daylight lovers, scat rag boosters, the stack'o'lees (all defunct) & the now school of: king khan and the shrines, BBQ, the mind controls, The King Khan & BBQ Show, the sunday sinners, CPC Gangbangs, Demon's Claws, the royal routes, the wrong-doers. the milky ways is actually news to me but it sounds cool. it's all good trashy druggy garage, and seems to be generally getting more psyche + woozy + weirded out than the old louie louie beer-drinking good times of old (as does a lot of the garage revival scene these days eg d. snakes, gris gris, black lips, etc.).

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:07 (nineteen years ago)

Reigning Sound had a really good record out of "too much guitar" but I stopped liking them due to their name. are they still around i wonder...

― turtledoveDIES!? (turtledoveDIES!), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

yes, and their "home for orphans" was one of the best records of last year... it's like a more melancholy take on a lot of the same songs as too much guitar

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

Someday I'll dig out the album I got from The Kimz, which came out about three or four years ago and tried to cash in on the garage rock duo craze. The two brothers who were the band were related to some local music honcho and put it out independently but their press pack promised this huge coming wave of accolades (and you, dear critic, were lucky to be in on the ground floor). It was the most amazingly bad album I've ever had the pleasure of reviewing, including the song "Unprotected Love," which made GG Allin sound like Elvis Costello. Everything sounded like a profoundly inept demo for a shitty MOR modern rock album, and the promo material was all about how this was REAL ROCK AND ROLL! AND WOULD SAVE THE WORLD!
It did have a totally awesome pedophilic cover of some chick touching herself that our publisher refused to run even in an ad (I did think it was awesome that when the band got a terrible review their response was to take out an ad that looked like a review that talked about how awesome they were). From a quick google, they're still up on CD baby. Feel free to stream them. Track 6 is the only one worth a chuckle.

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

what do you have against their name (reigning sound) and how does it keep you from enjoying their music? at least they don't call themselves clap your hands say yeah!

― marbles (marbles), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

seriously, dude. "the beatles" is the worst name ever but most people are able to get past it.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

it mainly stems from the word Reign. When I think of it I think of power metal bands and slayer which are good on somedays but bad on most.Also the name reigning sound is somehwat pretentious and arrogant. It's like calling your band tremendously skilled musicians but not so much.

RE:CYHSY ... well their name put me off from even trying to listen to their music.

― turtledoveDIES! (turtledoveDIES!), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

yes, but...

some may argue that judging a band based on their name (as opposed to thier music) is pretentious and arrogant.

no what I mean ;)

― marbles (marbles), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

the milky ways is actually news to me but it sounds cool. it's all good trashy druggy garage, and seems to be generally getting more psyche + woozy + weirded out

Yeah, definitely got that feeling from the album, and I think it's quite well recorded too -- not in a too clean way (of course!) but in a way that brings out those qualities you mention.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

ya.....but do i have to listen to clap your hands now??

― turtledoveDIES! (turtledoveDIES!), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

NO.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

So, apparently Dragonwyck are touring again

― rizzx (Rizz), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

Ooh, that makes me more curious about the Milky Ways...

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

destroy: the libertines really never did anything for me. i think
it's due to a certain coldness, or calculation that i hear in the
material. i prefer babyshambles. also, the warlocks seemed too contrived and artificial for my tastes. and i find the hives really really boring. the vines are listenable but hardly brilliant.

search: brian jonestown massacre, silly name, brilliant songs. for some reason, it's become fashionable in certain quarters to dis the White Stripes, probably because they somehow won the lottery of popular acclaim. but i still think they're pretty damn good. _De Stijil_ is easily their best album, but they're not very good at releasing bad material. i just wish jack white would take some voice lessons, i think he'd have some killer garage howls in him if he'd learn how to use his diaphragm when he sings. you can't give up hope; after all, bowie learned how to sing for _young americans_, and phil collins finally learned how to carry a song around 1980.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

six years pass...

lords of alamont = hilariously over the top cliches perhaps.

but damn, they make an amazing noise.

― mark e, Friday, 6 July 2012 19:46 (twelve years ago)

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