Shake Appeal is a column that highlights new garage and garage-adjacent releases. This time, Evan Minsker shares the long-awaited new album from Sonic Chicken 4, a compilation of early recordings by Danko Jones, a video from Audacity, a demo cassette from Line Traps, and the debut EP from Geyser.
Sonic Chicken 4: Sonic Chicken 4 [Bachelor/Dusty Medical]
In 2007, the Perpignan, France-based outfit Sonic Chicken 4 released a very good (and very overlooked) self-titled album via In the Red. In the years since, they've put out a couple singles via Rob's House and Trouble in Mind, but this week, their sophomore (also self-titled) album is finally available. Sonic Chicken 4 is another fantastically solid album, recorded by King Khan, of tracks thickened by fuzzed out guitars. They've got barnburners ("El Nico", "Love By the Riverside") and infectiously sunny singles ("Shadows on the Back", "Midnight Girl"). It's nice to have them back.
Danko Jones: Garage Rock! A Collection of Lost Songs From 1996-1998[Bad Taste]
If you've heard any output from Toronto's Danko Jones in the past few years, you might be confused as to how an ultra-slick radio rock band that tours with Nickelback has found its way into this column. Well, it's because in the late 90s and early 2000s, they were an honest-to-god garage rock band who logically toured with the Spaceshits. Garage Rock! is just that—a collection of under two-minute rippers that sound an awful lot like Jack Oblivian or early Jon Spencer Blues Explosion or even sort of like that Traps LP Castle Face put out earlier this year. If you want to know more about this band, check out Pitchfork contributor Stuart Berman's book Too Much Trouble.
Audacity: "Couldn't Hold a Candle"
Fullerton, California outfit Audacity have shared a video for their Butter Knife single. It's pretty much just the band doing drugs, performing the track, and covering themselves in bright colors. Goofy stuff.
Line Traps: Demo [Shake!]
Out of Victoria, British Columbia come the three-piece Line Traps, and their new demo cassette absolutely rips. It's six tracks of snarling, menacing punk songs, none of which travel too far past the minute mark. Some of their songs are cartoonishly tough: "Square?" insists on an answer to the question, "Are you a square?". They spit that word out so derisively that they sound like the delinquent kids in John Waters' Cry-Baby (a film where the squares are proud to be squares). This stuff hits hard and demands attention, so listen up.
Geyser: Geyser EP [Radiclaw]
Geyser hail from Greater Sudbury, Ontario (which makes them the third Canadian fuzz-rock band listed this week). On their debut EP, they've got a set of songs with howling vocals and intriguing studies in guitar texture. "Feel It All Day" features a hook that's muffled by feedback, and later, it's joined by a more clear-eyed solo. There's more of a slow burn at play with "Copper Wish" and "Junkie", and "Jocko" features some acid-fried guitars. With vocals that sound a bit... off, Geyser present a sound with a tenuous balance between clean and dirty.