Garage punk is not one scene that I follow. From time to time a band comes along and blows me a way. Some years ago, for another magazine, I got a record to review for a band from Sweden. That band turned out to be the Strollers. That band blew my mind and immediately I became a fan. I begged the label for more and more came my way. I think it was last year or the year before that the label and I got back in touch. They sent me other bands to review, which I truly enjoyed, like the Maggots and the Sewergrooves. As usual, I went to the Razorcake compound to pick up my review material. I saw a package in my box from Low Impact Records. Can’t go wrong there. They have not failed me yet. A new band on their label. Should be interesting. Turns out, this band has former members of the Maggots, Jens Lindberg and Anders Oberg. I look even further and get really excited to see the singer from the Strollers, Mathias Lilja, is in the band too. Holy cow! The music combines the elements of both bands and takes it to another level. Well-produced but raw and stripped-down garage rock that easily could be mistaken to be recorded from the late ‘60s or the early ‘70s. The same energy when I first got into punk is represented here. No silly studio tricks or over-layered tracks. Just simple playing with conviction. Another great thing about this release is none of the songs are over three minutes long. Get in and get out is what they do here. They play just long enough to get the point across and not overextend their welcome. Mathias is a great songwriter and his vocals are mesmerizing. The songs are infectious and melodic. With a little research, I see that this incarnation of the band released an LP in Italy in early 2003 titled H-Minor. I’m on a quest to acquire that and see how the progression to this release has gone so far.
–don (Low Impact)