I could make this review really easy and just list all of bands on this leather clad, Marlboro Red, studded belt compilation, bands you’ll recognize right off the bat – Vue, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Warlocks – to let you know what’s in store. But that would not only be lame and lazy, it would pass over highlighting some talent that you may not have heard of yet.
The kids at Kamedo Records in New York teamed up with the duo Steve Pestana and Pedro Mena who launched Shout! at Bar 13 in Greenich Village, something similar to what Mike and Tyler’s Lipgloss here in Denver. The difference is these guys got some coverage in Spin, and since they’re in New York, they actually had bands like The Strokes and Interpol hanging out and partying with the rest of the crowd. And some of these bands got to showcase their music in between the rocking DJ sets by Steve and Pedro.
This generation of rock stars take me back to a time when English rockers were inspired by American blues, bringing this new thing called rock and roll to the mod scene in the mid to late sixties.
If time travel were possible, Holmes could have easily opened for the Doors or at least helped finish a set if Jim dropped trow and got carted off by the Fuzz. Mover’s “Courthouse Blues” takes a Foghat “Slowride” intro along with a lead singer that could be a direct descendant of Mic Jagger. Things get going down a country road by The Boggs, a burlesque rhythm and sexy horns get things twisting by the Knoxville Girls. Atlanta’s The Hiss rip and snarl on “Riverbed”, giving us a taste of what the U.K. kids have been diggin’ for over a year (their album is available overseas, but not in the U.S. as of yet). Calla takes us into a purple haze of honey vocals and sleepy, psychedelic sheets of silk; Elefant breaks the mold, making up their own concoction of aching vocals, heavy bass lines, and distortion; while Dead Meadow takes musical inspiration from old Zeppelin.
This Shout! Compilation will enable you to easily create your holiday list, “Here, I want the full-length albums for all these bands.” Plus, it will give you a fix until those consumer-shopping days start to do their countdown.
