Broncho's Hip To Be A Woman

Oakland outfit Broncho have just released their new album Just Enough Hip To Be Woman, and it’s eleven slices of slightly-reverbed, massively-addictive guitar rock in the self-effacing, humorous, garage-tinged vein. The staccato delivery of ‘Class Historian’ is instant hookworm material, that also bares some resemblances to The Cars (I goddamn love The Cars). ‘Deena’ stretches further back, taking carbon copies of 60s surf rock and dropping it into the hyperdrive of 80s synthesised synapse-eroding rock. 'Stay Loose' could be a Joan Jett cover done by Unknown Mortal Orchestra at half speed. ‘Taj Mahal’ is a young Finn brothers cast-off. Its this pastiche of rock evolution that permeates Broncho’s song deconstructions that makes their songs both imminently likable and eerily recognisable. It is so indebted to past “glories” at times that a clear personality becomes opaque – as much as I dig ‘Stop Tricking’ and especially ‘Taj Mahal’, I can’t shake the comparisons off. It’s funny then that the last three songs are so intent on blowing the speakers, the groove and growl suddenly at the forefront when most other bands would top-load these tracks. ‘Kurt’, ‘China’ and ‘It’s On’ blast forth with a newfound grit, set in sepia and leather – it’s here, as in the giddiness of ‘Class Historian’, that Broncho become a combustible beast in their own right. A strange ride, then, yet it’s hard to resist their charms.





Just Enough Hip To Be Woman is out soon on Dine Alone Records - buy it here.

Get Past Broncho's Lips

Oklahoma outfit Broncho have built a hefty reputation on sloppy, sleazy, heady, heavy garage punk, and their debut LP Can't Get Past The Lips is a true lithmus test of their grit and determination. They come up trumps - 20+ minutes, of chugging swagger and disdain with a twinkle in the eye, it's dirty enough without dulling the edges, it's serrated without cutting the skin, it's drunken without vomiting in the hallway (well, almost...). It's hard to believe that this diseased yet very alive organism started out as a one man entity - chief architect and skittish leadman Ryan Lindsey. I've liked Broncho for some time, and this LP cements their status as strong firebrands in the upper echelon of the modern garage rock movement, mainly because as bassist Johnathon Ford puts it: “It’s not nostalgia, it’s natural.”


Can't Get Past The Lips is out now through Guestroom Records. You can grab this nihilistic beauty here.

Broncho - Losers
Broncho - Try Me Out Sometime

Hits From The Box #33 - Family Circles

Family. Gotta love em, hey? The past fortnight has been filled with family get-togethers - chewing the cud with the Ma and Pa, rockin and drinkin with my cousins, and my sister getting married (in London - I couldn't make it - gutting). They are blood, you can't walk away from em - lucky mine are all right. No Huxtables - who is? - but at least it's not the Kelly residence either...


Today brings the newest release from Olympia, Wa. indie rock experimenters, Letters. Released on Yoyo Records (former home of Mirah, The Mountain Goats, and The Microphones), All the Adventures to See Them I Will is a languid sonic journey. Not adhering to any genre, this is an album as experimental as it is infectious. Below are the first two singles off the album...

Letters - Musk Of This Ink




Let's fly over to Berlin (via Tel Aviv - racking up the frequent flyer miles) now to have a quick toe to toe with TV Buddhas. They listen incessantly to Husker Du, The Wipers, The Ramones, and Modern Lovers, and the two tracks from their current 7" certainly showcase these influences. The 7" is out through Staatsakt Records, and can get got from Rough Trade.

TV Buddhas - Hello To Loneliness
TV Buddhas - Just Another Day In My Head


I do like me some slightly hokey yet generally awesome band names, and Shitty/Awesome fits the bill on many levels. Their statement that they straddle the paradoxical line between farcical and substantive sums it up nicely. Having formed on a road trip to the 2009 SXSW does add some credence though - hell, that's pretty much the same circumstances behind which Sonic Masala came to be! Now having played alongside the likes of Lightning Bolt, Nobunny and Abe Vigoda, their love of the amazing Tyvek, and with their debut LP coming out through Guestroom Records, Im thinking that the throwaway banter won't distill the notion that there is a good garage band bubbling away here. At the end of the day its all about having stupid, decadent fun, and Shitty/Awesome intend to provide it all in spades.

Shitty/Awesome - Hang Up


Bloomington Indiana based band Hypocrite in a Hippy Crypt must have one of the shittest names of 2011. Im sorry guys - but seriously? I much prefer the name of your album, Tweaker In The Park. Out through Gulcher Records (Kurt Vile's first label), Tweaker In The Park is pretty lo-fi and unassuming, yet has a couple of cracking tracks on it, especially the lazy easiness that oozes from 'The Town Crazies' (another good (or at least much better) name for a band guys...) Don't judge this band by its title - give the below track a listen first, you should be pleasantly surprised...

Hypocrite In A Hippy Crypt - The Town Crazies


Now I can't pretend to know much about Italian duo M+A, but this track really hit me. Not really like The Books, or Cornelius, yet infused with some of the same glitchy spirit, with a slight Akron/Family effusiveness, 'Liko Lene Lisa' is a great track, and worth the time to delve further - or at least checking out their forthcoming LP Things. Yes that comes out in November...

M + A - Liko Lene Lisa


The second HFTB to have an album out on Guestroom Records, Tulsa's very cool Broncho. This track is delightedly tripping the light fantastic insofar that they effortlessly sound like Greasers from the 60s and modern-day flannel garage rockers at the same time. 'Pick A Fight' as a signature tune couldn't be any more perfect. This is hook-laden rock at its most devilish, with enough attitude to scare hipsters into ditching their black-rimmed unprescripted glasses and see the light. The Fonz wouldn't stand a chance with these guys. This is my soundtrack for the rest of the day - Im now off to go drink some Bloody Mary's with my bud Dan C.

Broncho - Pick A Fight

Happy Sunday!