Tag Archives for garage rock

Minot – “Down & Out at the Thunderbird”

Key Tracks: “Dirtbag,” “Night Time”

In an era where AI is beginning to dominate our daily lives via attrition, art is becoming increasingly sanitized, and minorities are getting ever more stifled, it becomes important to seek out the oddball art. And it’s out there, everywhere, waiting to be found. Today’s transmission comes to us from Missoula, Montana, where the throwback garage band Minot have just released their sophomore album, Down & Out at the Thunderbird. The trio consists of Alex and Flora on guitar and Noah on drums, with Alex and Flora sharing vocal duties.

The music made by Minot is somewhat simple on paper, akin to a rockabilly revival or even psychobilly, but in reality it stems from sources across decades. There’s some garage rock in there, some folk-punk, some indie rock, and all with messy DIY spirit. This is crunchy, grungy music, like a hotel room left in much worse shape than it was found. The promo images for Minot show all three members in bandages, something that might be genuine – multiple live videos on the band’s social media show members sporting some crimson on their faces. There is serious scrappy energy here, a ton of punk spirit strapped to some garage indie.

Thunderbird starts with a bang – a quick little scream from Flora leads to a supremely jangly guitar rhythm before the band kicks in on “Scarecrow.” It immediately sets the lo-fi tone that never strays across the album. The album’s opening lyric, “Her breath smelled like corn,” only adds to the grunginess as well. The first few cuts on the album all have that musty punk sense to them, some quick bangers with tons of spunk. The first quarter of the album really builds to the third song, “Dirtbag,” the first on the album that features shared vocals. The follow-up is the excellent “Hipshake,” which falls much more into garage rock territory with a subtle but neat little synth pattern.

Most of Thunderbird is difficult to pin down. After the whiplash opening tracks, the band explores some much older territory. While much of the album sounds somewhat influenced by 60’s rock, “Night Time” sounds like a cut directly from the era. Early garage rock acts like Count Five and The Association feel like they were probably overseers on these tunes, especially “Night.” “Cry, Cry, Cry” takes things even further back, invoking a 50’s rockabilly style that isn’t exactly common among the youth today. It’s got that patient rhythm that feels dressed up because of the time, but ready to let loose at a moment’s notice. Possibly the biggest outlier on the album is the excellent closer, “Slime.” It’s more of an indie tune, with some slightly louder mixing, and it has emotional spoken word vocals from both singers. It’s a surprisingly affective song, especially after 30 odd minutes of lo-fi punk snark.

Minot scratch an itch that not too many newer bands these days are capable of. The band hearkens back to mid-60’s garage rock in a way that is increasingly rare. While artists like Ty Segall and Jon Dwyer and their respective universes take heavy inspiration from that era, few bands really capture the dirty, lo-fi spirit. Minot have it in waves. The sparse production and noodly instrumentation transport the listener to the time between sock hops and acid trips. Toss in punk energy and a touch of folk, and you’ve got a rollicking good time.

Cräne – “15 minutes de plaisir”

Key Tracks: “Filth,” “The Hunt”

Whether it’s the underdiscussed hardcore revival happening, or my own tastes mutating out of solidifying anger at the world, or a combination of both – I’ve been digging into more and more hardcore bands over the past two years. There is absolutely a rebirth of hardcore happening, both classic and new mutations. Bands like Knocked Loose and Turnstile are taking the format of hardcore and spicing it up with anything they please, and pushing it onto stages not normally reserved for hardcore. It feels like every day I hear about a new hardcore band from a new corner of the continent. Well today, it’s Cräne, out of Montreal. They’re ultra-fresh on the scene, having just put their debut EP, 15 Minutes de Plaisir. As someone who loves hardcore and has always kept up with French lessons, c’est un grand cadeaux pour moi. 

Cräne is made up of Shirley on vocals, Jypse on guitar, Wawa on bass and Frank on drums.Although this band is new, it brings together members of Powercup, Apostoloï, Wild Call and Ditch. The band stray closer to the standard hardcore side of things, but never feel too complacent about it. All eight songs here are defiantly hardcore, from the bass opening of “Mépris” to the more drawn-out closer, “The Hunt.” Fans of classic hardcore will find solace in all 70 seconds of “Dead Heat,” a power chord-heavy blast of aggression. “Filth” and “Time’s Up” are also among the EP’s more hardcore-heavy tunes. 

But some songs go a little more astray. There’s a persistent garage rock influence on the tape, especially on “Lasso” and “The Hunt.” There’s some early 60’s proto-psychdelia present in the frantic melodicism. “Mépris” kicks the tape off with some of that energy as well, also backed up by some 70’s psychedelic-inspired vocals from Shirley. “Édifiant” is longer and denser than most of the other songs here, taking just a touch more time to lay things out. The longest track is “The Hunt,” a second shy of three minutes, and on top of the garage rock there’s a real 90’s punk feel to it. It’s the most melodic song on the tape, with hints of bands like Rancid in the rhythm. 

Gone are the stereotypical niceties of Canadians. This is aggressive hardcore, and the energy is palpable. The tape is, in case the title was not clear, only 15 minutes or so long. These songs put bass front and center, courtesy of opportunistic pummeling from Wawa. Shirley gets some good lyrical licks in too, singing “Hope you never get laid, hope you never the chance” on “Filth.” Her vocals carry most of these songs, with a big, shrieking feel to them that you don’t find too often in hardcore. It’s clear they’re not just ingesting hardcore, but old school garage rock and classic rock as well. Cräne might only be just now testing the waters, but it’s an impressive little debut to watch out for. 

15 minutes de plaisir is available now on Bandcamp.