Low Back Chain Shift

Album review

The So So Glos are an indie rock band from Brooklyn led by brothers Alex Levine (vocals, bass) and Ryan Levine (guitar, vocals). Their stepbrother Zach Staggers plays drums and their pal Matt Elkin throws down some serious guitar noise. They have a fierce punk ethos and love playing all-ages venues, where their peers can participate in the carnage they often produce on-stage. Clocking in at two-plus-minutes each, these tunes would be radio-ready if radio played exciting young bands in 2011. "Fred Astaire" sounds like Buddy Holly playing a swing version of a girl group song, and hearing kids this young reference Fred Astaire's "Puttin' on the Ritz" is a hopeful sign that good taste is not dead. "Live Like TV" is a scathing putdown of consumerism disguised as a clanging R&B tune, the Stylistics meet the Clash perhaps. Alex Levine's vocals convey the right blend of anger and acquiescence. "New Stance" is a surrealistic folk song and "Here Comes the Neighborhood" is an anthem for disaffected youth that makes good use of dub effects to make its point, while "Lindy Hop" is driven along by breakneck drumming, an urgent bassline, Elkin's brittle guitar, and Alex Levine's dramatic vocal. The energy of a dozen LPs is packed into this EP's five tracks and the band writes first-class tunes that sound like classic rock, no mean feat.

© j. poet /TiVo