The Routes – Tune Out, Switch Off, Drop In

Still where it's at! Japan-based psych-garage trio hit the spot!

I still remember the epiphany of catching the garage-rock bug as a teenager. While the majority of my fellow sixth-formers were content to have Dire Straights' Brothers In Arms on constant repeat on the common room cassette deck, (or worse - Pink Floyd's The Wall), I was introduced by my pals Chris and Sean to the Nuggets and Pebbles compilations along with a raft of reissues on Bam Caruso Records. Here was music that was punky, soulful, and psychedelic. A rich seam to explore. It was colourful and fun, which went against the grain of being a goth, seemingly the only other rebellious strain available to to us sheltered young pups in our small market town. I was smitten, and remain so to this day.

The Routes' latest album, their seventh, which came out just before Christmas, is a reminder of just how valuable that epiphany has been in forming my musical tastes and outlook, and also highlights that while the basic sonic template of psychedelic garage-rock may not have shifted much over the years, if you have something to say it will serve you well. And if you're a savvy enough musician you can add touches of other genres – R&B, surf-rock, folk-rock, Krautrock, shoegaze, even house or techno. It's no surprise that shape-shifting bands such as Primal Scream started out as a bowl-haircutted garage band with a pointy shoes, paisley shirts and a tambourine player.

The Routes are a trio led by Chris Jack – a Scottish born musician now resident In Hita City, Japan. While they too have a fondness for paisley shirts, skinny jeans, and teardrop-shaped guitars played through vintage fuzz pedals, there is more going on in their music than the retro bubble letters of their band logo would suggest. Within these grooves are experimental sonic threads – be it the tremolo and drone of album opener 'The Ricochet', 'Up and Down' with its shimmering layered guitars, or the title track's chromatic chord progression in the chorus recalling the works of Syd Barrett.

The album's more traditional garage-rock tracks such as 'The King Of Loose Ends' and 'You Cried Wolf' are equally thrilling, full of riffs, hooks, snarly vocals and ear-splitting trebly guitar solos. Dick Dale gets channelled on surfy number 'Split Personality', and there's plenty punkish attitude throughout with nods to artists such as Loop, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Spaceman 3, The Seeds and 13^th Floor elevators. Tune Out, Switch Off, Drop In is no pure retro trip though, it lyrically addresses current global concerns, pointing out that as a species we are without doubt regressing rather than progressing. The CD version comes with an extra four taken from the Driving Round In Circles EP, which originally came out on Ghost Highway Recordings in 2018. Whether your musical first love is '60s garage-rock, '90s indie, or simply great guitar bands from any era, this is an album worthy of your attention. Switch on and tune in!

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Paul Messis - Songs Of Our Times

Third album from the garage punk outsider! 12 new tunes on a 12” piece of plastic!

Paul Messis is a man who knows how to achieve a biting guitar tone. As a student and aficionado of '60s US garage-punk, his attempts at re-capturing the sounds made by mid-west teens in thrall to British Invasion bands are pretty much unrivalled. Whether it's a biting bridge pick-up lead break, a Byrdsian 12-string chime, or a fuzz-guitar motif inspired by a copy of a copy of The Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction', Messis seems to nail it each time. More than the sounds though it's the spirit of those records he captures. That sense of being at odds with the mores and prevailing attitudes of the times.

So much for the sonics and spirit then but what of the subject matter? As we've come to expect from Messis there's a similarly biting lyrical barb that permeates this album. An attack on apathy here, a shot at governmental failings there, and expressions of disappointment in society's mores throughout. He's no killjoy though. Such pessimism merely point out that Messis believes in a better world and much like punk rock in '77, his lyrics call for more care and compassion, beginning on a one-to-one level and resonating throughout the wider world.

A hippy in garage-punk clothing? Perhaps not but it's clear Messis believes in the power of music to voice something, be it inner pain, critical diatribes against those in power, or day-to-day dissatisfaction. At the heart of this is a desire for communion and community. It's a thread that's present in all Messis' solo output as well as in the records he's made as a member of home-counties bile-punk band The Suburban Homes.

There's more to this LP though. Evidence of more mellow and nuanced sounds than we've previously heard on his solo LPs. 'Apathy's Calling', which closes side one of the LP's vinyl version has a more reflective and folksy vibe. A possible pointer to music he may make in the future, and proof that he's as adept at introspection as he is at protest. Other highlights include 'The Ballad Of A Strange Cat' which contains a neat autobiographical twist, and 'Mainstream Lifestyle Blues' where he channels his inner-Dylan and goes for that thin wild mercury sound. 'Don't follow The Man' also branches out into raga-psych territory.

Aside from his solo work and The Suburban Homes Messis continues to run the small but perfectly formed Market Square Records, specialising in limited edition 7” singles. He's also a member of The Higher State, whose latest album we covered here last year. It's in these solo records that Messis is truly himself though and we're glad he finds the time to make them. 

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Muscle - Muscle

Debut LP of quirky garage rock from Toulouse-based quartet.

One of the more interesting bands to have come into my orbit recently is Muscle. Mixing garage rock with hi-octane post-punk, their sound is quirky, off-kilter and full of enough interesting little twists, turns and additions to raise a smile from even the most jaded garage-head. The band formed in 2015 in Toulouse, France and contains members of Gaz Gaz, Crank!, Dividers and Liminanas.

Their quirky punk sound topped off with sharp, acerbic lyrics is a real tonic in troubled times. The've recently toured France, Switzerland and Belgium. Hopefully they'll make it over the Channel sometime but if you can't wait why not head across to France yourself? Muscle play the Binic Folk Blues Festival in Northwest France in July. A festival on a beach is as good an excuse as any for a cross-channel trip. Even more so if Muscle are playing! Have a listen to their eponymous LP below.

Out now on limited edition vinyl LP, CD, cassette or digital download.

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The Higher State – Your Casting Doubt (Ltd. 7”)

Latest single from Kent garage-heads! 300 copies only!

The Higher State's LP from last year, the misleadingly titled Volume 27 was a winner for those of us who like their music with a distincly '60s hue. The three man line-up that made the album are back with a new 7”, limited to only 300 copies.

A-side 'Your Casting Doubt' has the same musical DNA as Volume 27 – plenty of fuzz guitar, authentic trebly production, and that Yanks-copying-Brits-copying-Yanks vibe that was all the rage back in '66. Wait a minute, these are Brits-copying-Yanks-copying-Brits-copying-Yanks! Get your hear round that folks!!

Anyway let's not get bogged down in the ethnology, suffice to say that it sounds great. Flipside 'X-Ray Day' tells a worrying tale of a hospital visit/nuclear dread delivered with charmingly lazy, nasal vocals. Neat!

If you want a copy, 100 come in a folded over sleeve (available via the band's own Bandcamppage), with the other 200 regular copies available from Market SquareRecords. Get ordering doods!

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The Neighbourhood Strange – Let's Get High / One Last Chance 7”

If sixties were nineties. Beefy garage-psych from the Salisbury quintet.

Less than a year on from their eponymous debut 7”, The Neighbourhood Strange are back with another double A-sided dose of dark garage-psych. This couln't have arrived at a better time for me. I recently had chat with a pal about psychedelia where he described it as music that's all about head-in-the-clouds, holding hands and golden unicorns. This slab of plastic may help in opening his up his mind. Let's all wear flowers in our hair? No thanks, let's just crack on with the substances instead. Psych is a very broad church that can accomodate a lot of punk-ish attitude.

The Neighbourhood Strange have one foot in the Sunset Strip garage sound of the mid '60s and another in the swaggering guitar band sound that was all the range in the '90s. With a lead vocal that recalls both Lennon's salty snarl and Jim Morrison's baritone. 'Let's All Get High' is a call to arms for heads everywhere. Unlike the treble-heavy '60s recordings that have obviously inspired the band, the track benefits from today's production values. It's all about the full sonic spectrum baby, where the bottom end can cut through!

Flipside 'One Last Chance' has a slower early '70s Stones-ey vibe. Jagger-esque vocals with instrumental passages where both guitar and organ get to take centre stage. Another top release. Nice work lads! Anyway where did I leave that golden unicorn?

Released on March 17th on 7” vinyl and CD (Each limited to 500 copies).

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The Creation Factory - Let Me Go / You Got It (Ltd. 7")

Limited edition 7” from LA's hottest underground psych band!

In a week where, on both sides of the Atlantic, the political shit heads towards its proverbial fan, it's reassuring to know that America still makes great music. And it's similarly reassuring that a small record label on our side of the pond is willing and able to press this music onto black vinyl. The Creation Factory are the latest Los Angeles band to have the kudos of a 7” release on Market Square Records, the small but perfectly formed bespoke label based in West Sussex.

The band's sound harks back to an earlier period in the city's musical history, a time when fuzzy guitars, reedy organ, three chords and a whole lotta snotty attitude was the order of the day. The A-side is pure riot on Sunset Strip, the sound of US teens' take on Them & The Rolling Stones. (Who were themselves imitating US blues musicians! Hell what's the point in nativism and shoring up borders when internationalism sounds this good!) Shot through with that garage-punk vibe we all dig, the track culminates in a band freak-out complete with wailing police sirens. Get diggin' it!

The flip-side is an altogether different beast. A dancefloor instrumental containing funky drummer beats, organ and guitar solos. A surefire smash down your local garage club-night. Don't leave it too late to bag a copy of this 7”, it's limited to 300 copies only and I'm not having you coming round here a-cryin' on my shoulder if you miss out!

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