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Shake Appeal is a column that highlights new garage and garage-adjacent music. This time, Evan Minsker looks at a new singles compilation from Davila 666 and the latest from AJ Davila Y Terror Amor, Sonny Vincent, Flesh Lights, and the Blind Shake.
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Davila 666: Pocos Anos, Muchos Danos [Burger]
After two albums (and live at Third Man LP) Davila 666 have quickly become the sort of band that makes you flip through the "D" section of the record shop's 7" bins hoping to spot a copy of their essential "Pa Que Vives". The past couple of years have been a bit of a dry spell in terms of out put, though there been no shortage of excellent solo and side-band releases, specifically by Las Ardillas and AJ Davila. Fortunately, Burger have got it covered with this singles collection. It's predictably great, collecting their crucial covers of the Nerves' "Hanging on the Telephone" and the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow" (as "Borrandos el Negro"), plus several other garage pop gems. It's apparently the season of the garage rock singles comp, and this one shouldn't be missed.
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AJ Davila Y Terror Amor: Beibi [Burger]
If you've already got all those singles and rarities, Burger's still got more Davila for you. The same day they release Pocos Anos, Muchos Danos, in typical Burger fashion, they're unleashing AJ Davila Y Terror Amor's follow-up to their debut full-length. Beibi is their best work by a mile— consistently exciting and catchy. Guitar lines dart around "Iggy Prueba", exploring the contours of the song's melodic possibilities. It's an album that's bouyed by it's unpredictability--AJ Davila's strongest collection to date. (Read Paula Meija on "Borderline".)
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Sonny Vincent and Spite: Spiteful [Ultramafic/StillUnbeatable]
Count me among the skeptics when old punks announce new albums. The New York Dolls, the Stooges, even the late Joey Ramone (Rest In Power) delivered unmemorable and disappointing records in the recent past. Who wants to listen to your heroes all the while hoping for the best and rightfully fearing the worst. With that in mind, I approached the new record from Sonny Vincent and Spite with trepidation. The band's lineup is stacked: Testors' Sonny Vincent, the Damned's Rat Scabies, the Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock, and the Stooges' Steve Mackay. While Spiteful is uneven—you've got to sift through some slower, sentimental stuff—but it's got a few absolute killers that are worth diving in for. "Bad Superstition", is an astonishingly electric track that has Vincent testifying and sounding alive as ever. Songs like "Shameless Face", and "Wait" are a potent reminder not to be an ageist fuck and give old guys a chance now and then.
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Flesh Lights: Free Yourself [12XU]
Back in 2011, Austin's Flesh Lights released an excellent punk record called Muscle Pop, and if you haven't heard that one, go listen to it right now. This week, they return with another batch of musclar pop—Free Yourself is full of catchy and rafter-reaching hooks. Tracks like "Middle Age" are relentless, with a barrage of power chords and snotty lyrics about older dudes that try to look young. Heavy with social and political paranoia—"German Discs" is about drones (or maybe UFOs) but comes across a bit like if the Dead Milkmen went hardcore. Following records by Ghetto Ghouls and OBN IIIs, Flesh Lights are the latest entry in Austin's great rock'n'roll year.
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The Blind Shake: Breakfast of Failures [Goner]
The Blind Shake's Breakfast of Failures is the breakfast of post-apocalyptic warriors. On their new one, the Minneapolis trio deliver the weight and density of an Earth riff but married it with punk speed and bite. What's unchanging is their pure intensity. Breakfast is pure intimidation, and between this and MUSK's album, it's been a huge year for this kind of thing.