SWEETHEART
OF THE GARAGE - The Roobs (independent)
Sometimes
you can wander casually into a second-hand book store and pick something cheap
off the shelf that, while not anything remotely close to Pulitzer Prize winning
material, invokes and exploits a well worn formula 
competently,
without pretension and with an emphasis on popular acceptance.
That's the pleasant feeling I get from The Roobs' five-song, 15-minute, short,
sharp and shiny garage rock EP. The sound here is unmistakeably influenced
by Radio Birdman and their cohorts in 1970s Detroit celebratory sound, with
an adherence to the play-fast-at-costs philosophy characterised by The Ramones.
It's all played enthusiastically and frenetically, loaded with chunky chords
that are more Masuak than Tek, and a production aesthetic that's classically
raw.
The opening song is a two minute stripped rock ode that combines the sweet
surf garage sound of the Bondi Lifesaver in 1977 with a lyrical content that
could be a close relation to Weezer's "Pink Triangle". Song number
two is a cover of The Barracudas' "Gotta Get A Gun", played with
an obvious love of the original but with a local Taswegian inflection.
"1910" (apparently an ode to the pleasures of living in the Edwardian
Age – though, as far as history has taught us so far, the electric guitar
was yet to make an appearance at that time) is dominated by liberal moments
on the wah-wah pedal and some trademark surf guitar swirls, a pattern evident
again in the EP title track. Matters concludes with Pushin' up Daisies (bearing
no relation to that other Weezer song), in which the band trades its earlier
rock brutality for a more psychedelic edge, complete with a very subtle Theremin
appearance.
One of the many virtues of garage music is its abhorrence of artistic pretension.
At the risk of damning with faint praise – which is certainly not the
intention – this album is definitely authentic and true to its chosen
artistic tradition. - Patrick
Emery
Available here.
