Shake Appeal is a column that highlights new garage and garage-adjacent releases. This week, Evan Minsker discusses the new album from the Limiñanas, a split from So Cow and Image Makers, a reissue of Baltimore psych hero George Brigman, and debuts from ANO and Life Stinks.
The Limiñanas: Costa Blanca [Trouble in Mind]
The Limiñanas hail from Southern France, and on Costa Blanca, they exude a whispering cool. At the beginning of "Rosas", Lio Limiñana speaks in a deep, husky voice—he sounds like Serge Gainsbourg, detached and untouchable—over a rolling bass groove and rattling tambourine, before a warm, wah-wah guitar comes in. It's an album that seems to take its cues only from the coolest vintage sounds: Gainsbourg, French new wave, and the Velvet Underground. A lot of bands aim to put their spin on vintage material, but very few can make it sound this good. Also: Listen carefully for the unexpected John Landis and John Belushi namedrops on "Votre coté yéyé m'emmerde".
The Limiñanas: "My Black Sabbath" on SoundCloud.
So Cow / Image Makers: Split [Boston Pizza]
So Cow is a solo project by Ireland's Brian Kelly. Image Makers are a Spanish outfit. This limited run split, which came about after the two bands played a show together in Madrid, features a choice cut from each artist. "Visa Waiver", with its crusty low end and stabs of feedback, is one of the more ragged tracks in So Cow's pop-heavy discography. Meanwhile, Image Makers' "Mediocridad" is a jangling, swooning pop tune cut with reverberating synths. The mood is drastically different on each side, but both songs are total earworms.
George Brigman: Jungle Rot [Obscure Oxide]
In 1975, Baltimore shredder George Brigman self-released his debut album Jungle Rot. Now, it's got a vinyl reissue on Obscure Oxide. The title track features some beefy, acid-fried, psychedelic guitar heroics. There's similarly throaty, macho, strange stuff out there today—like Birds of Maya, Purling Hiss, and Spacin'. But then Jungle Rot has more gentle and minimal fare ("Schoolgirl"), blues rock ("Don't Bother Me"), and completely fried fuzz ("I Feel Alright"). It's a ripper that's unpredictable and consistently great.
ANO: Shit Just Got Real! [self-released]
This cassette demo is several months old, but it's good enough to deserve a belated mention. Since there's no information on ANO out there, I emailed them to get their story: They're four people from all over the globe, but fate brought them together in London. Guitarist Leah currently lives in San Francisco, drummer Raquel and vocalist Andrea are from Spain, and bassist Rob is from Guildford, England. They played about four gigs and made this demo before going on hiatus. Hopefully they'll come back someday, because this demo is great. "You bore me!" they growl. "I don't care about anything!" they shriek. Eight loud, bashing punk songs that don't fuck around.
Life Stinks: Life Stinks [S.S.]
While the Bay Area seems to be teeming with prolific songwriters who make nuanced, well-crafted garage pop, there are also plenty of sloppy, macho punks. (See: Scraper.) Life Stinks belong in the latter category, which is made evident on their self-titled LP. They employ a menacing low end, their guitar solos sometimes feel flat or misplaced (like on the end of "Sharp When You're Bummed"), and their lyrics go out of their way to provoke: On "Cemetaries", frontman Chad sings about how he wants someone to throw his ashes in the eyes of his enemies. There's also a lot of stuff about how pointless cemeteries are. Awesomely, the LP is co-produced by two studio wizards: Kelley Stoltz and Eddy Current Suppression Ring's Mikey Young.
Life Stinks: "Sharp When You're Bummed" on SoundCloud.
Life Stinks: "Cemetaries" on SoundCloud.
Also Worth Hearing: A fresh pressing of Gino and the Goons' self-titled 12" (via Total Punk); Cold Beat, a band featuring Grass Widow's Hannah Lew and Shannon and the Clams' Cody Blanchard (via Crime on the Moon); Nonage, the new album from Autistic Youth (via Dirtnap); jangling pop from Vancouver's Tough Age (via Mint).
Gino and the Goons: "Gotta Getaway" on SoundCloud.
Cold Beat: "Worms" on SoundCloud.
Tough Age: "The Heart of Juliet Jones" on SoundCloud.