The garage rock revivalist movement has truly seen an upsurge in recent years, leading to an increase in often bored and unapologetic teens crawling out of their mothers basement with nothing in hand but a 70’s Nuggets compilation and a fresh six pack; all in the hope of jamming away in a punk rock band, free from the routine drain of nine to five life.
Since this movement sluggishly began revealing its self from under its covers in recent years, it has undeniably left us with an impressive list of underground icons, such as Jay Retard, Oblivions, Ty Segall, plus a number of Aussie contributions including Royal Headache and The Straight Arrows. However even with the increased interest in recent years and the notable push from labels such as Burger Records and Drag City, the movement has still maintained an inseparable romance imbedded within the outlandish roots of dingy basements and the thirsty lo-fi junkies of the underground. It is this very romance which is notably rooted in the hearts of Brisbane’s very own trio of delinquents, lsd Ratkings.
lsd Ratkings’ second EP TARINGA may be a brief 15 minute affair, but it’s full of virulent garage rock hooks and upbeat vocals.
TARINGA is the Brisbane trio’s second EP to date, following their last year’s brief 10-minute affair JUVENILA; and honestly I cant say much has changed between the two EP’s besides a clear improvement on the production. However this isn’t a necessarily a bad thing. Much like JUVENILA, TARINGA delivers a momentarily brief affair with five reverb-drenched tracks, coupled with some grainy lo-fi production.
The vocals are still relatively drained out by the lucid wash of guitars, however the melody still remains and absolutely manages to grab you with some virulent hooks. This is evident right from the get go on the EP opener Eli, which completely blankets you in a trance of infectious grooves and killer melody supplied by eerily muffled vocals.
Everything, and quite literally everything from Gone‘s ecstatic guitar riffs and lively drum grooves to the upbeat vocal delivery is executed perfectly. This track is catchy as fuck! It is so catchy that I challenge any one of you to take one listen to this piece of ear candy and not spontaneously feel the urge to get up and move those skinny feet. This track just screams ‘feel good summer vibes’ from when the first chord hits to the last. The replay value of Gone should keep you going through this winter all the way till next summer.
Whilst the lsd Ratkings don’t dabble in anything too new on TARINGA, it is defiantly still a step in the right direction for the rowdy bunch, offering a decent improvement upon their initial EP JUVENILA. This is still the lsd Ratkings you know and love, delivering their distinctive pools of reverb and summer vibes, however with improved production, all round catchier tunes plus a more coherent overall sound.
If you were thinking about giving the guys in lsd Ratkings a sneaky listen then it is highly suggested you take the mere 15 minutes it takes to get through this EP out of your boring ass routine and give it a fair snoop.
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