Thee Dements have a nice thing going on—very much camped out in the lo-fi, spastic garage rock vein, light on the distortion and heavy on the sass. It’s mostly a little too goofy for me, but they’ve got some real moments of magic, like with the oddly convincing “Keep Droaning On” and “You Are a Fool”—where they channel a weird kind of 1960s Animals-like somberness. Surprising; it really shouldn’t work but it does. Number 71 Monobands, however, doesn’t fare nearly as well—this one-man band sounds like the sabertooth tiger from the Flintstones found a kickdrum and learned a few blues riffs, or the Almighty Do Me A Favor guy doing mescaline with the Tasmanian Devil until they both wake up the next day with weird, embarrassing tattoos. That may sound great, but trust me, it isn’t.
–keith (Bubca)