My friend Burgers introduced me to the cool jams of Massachusetts garage trio Thick Shakes a while back and recently I ran across a tight single of theirs on Weekly Tape Deck, so I figured it was high time to cop their debut EP Ooh Mommy for free from their website.
After a couple of repeat listens, I have to say that I’ve fallen head-over-heels for this group. First off, the band name is not only the best thing I’ve heard in a long time, but is strangely the best description of their sound: tasty pop gems oftentimes surrounded by viscous instrumentation (most evident in tracks like “Glass Mask”). Secondly, the songs absolutely kick ass all around. The tape opens with “(Baby) You’re a Starfish”, a track with a driving repetitive bass line and pulsating keyboard chords making it sound like the love child of Explode Into Colors and The Allah Las — which for me is always a winning combination.
“(Baby) You’re a Starfish” certainly sets the tone of the EP as the band blazes through “Glass Mask”, “Nobody’s Girl”, and “Julie K” in much of the same fashion. The second half of the release (presumably the flip-side to the Snuggle Hound Records cassette) features their most downtempo, chilled-out track in “Memory Foam” as well as two cover songs. The dark, slightly creepy, “Underwear” by the Magnetic Fields gets a face-lift with bassist Lindsay Crudele and guitarist Tim Scholl providing upbeat harmonizing vocals, striping the original track of any hint of back-alley seductiveness. The eight-song EP ends on a bit of a low point with a muddled rendition of Cuby & The Blizzards “Your Body Not Your Soul” that drags along a little too much making you long for the sharp guitar rifts of the original. Hey, 7 great tracks out of 8 certainly isn’t bad for a debut!
Check out two of my favorites from Ooh Mommy below and, if you like it, head to their website to download the whole thing at the cost of an e-mail address. Also, check out Thick Shakes’ muxtape page for some “baby demos and new songs.”
Thick Shakes // Underwear (Magnetic Fields Cover)
Tags: mp3, Ooh Mommy, Snuggle Hound Records, Thick Shakes