New York garage rockers up their attack
New York’s Electric Mess returns with a new album that intensifies their Farfisa-laced mid-60s garage rock with the raucous bombast of the Stooges and Dolls. Esther Crow still spits out her lyrics with the ferocity of a latter-day Paul Pierce, but this time the organ plays from the sidelines as the group’s louder, harder instrumental attack takes center stage. Even when the tempo slows for “She Got Fangs” or the licentious “Lemonade Man,” the ferocity doesn’t dip, and up-tempo numbers like “Beat Skipping Heart” sound as if they’re being sprayed from a high-pressure fire hose. You can still hear the band’s mid-60s roots, but the location has changed from a suburban garage to a downtown squat. [©2014 Hyperbolium] 