Seattle garage trio
Night Beats
make their
Heavenly Records
debut with their brazen third LP,
Who Sold My Generation
. Fronted by guitar slinger
Danny Lee Blackwell
,
have amassed a fairly substantial catalog in their six years together, issuing a variety of different singles and compilation tracks alongside their two previous albums. With regard to their overall sound, not a great deal has changed since they first dropped their debut single, "H-Bomb," in 2010. Their talent for brash, riffy psych-rock with plenty of attitude remains their greatest strength, and their marriage of
Nuggets
-era sounds with the contemporary lo-fi aesthetic of 21st century garage revivalists puts them in league with other prominent West Coast acts like
Thee Oh Sees
and
Ty Segall
. As on 2013's
Sonic Bloom
, reverb is king and
' swagger is captured here in a thick cacophony of the stuff as
Blackwell
's ace guitar work bounces wildly around the room on standouts like the free-ranging "Sunday Mourning" and the hooky single "No Cops." With its radio static, vintage broadcast samples, and spoken incantations, experimental opener "Celebration #1" sets a freewheeling, almost anarchistic tone and
do manage to maintain that energy, if not the mischievous intent, throughout the album. Like a lot of bands playing in this ultimately familiar style, there's a feeling that they probably slay it on-stage, harnessing the energy of a wild bar crowd and working their vintage rock magic. On record, they do retain some of that magnetism, but much of their songwriting seems to simply serve their musical style without making that much of an impact. There are exceptions, of course, especially with album closer "Egypt Berry," which is easily this album's strongest track.
certainly has all the right moves and is probably
' best album to date, but to get the full effect, look for them on tour. ~ Timothy Monger