The Artakees - Rush (Off Label Records 2020)

The Artakees are a Garage Punk Band from Essen and Düsseldorf. They formed in spring 2018 and play a mixture of classic Garage Rock & modern Power Pop.
Their guitar riffs are reminiscent of the legendary The Kinks, the bass sound and the compact grooves may call The Sonics to mind. By dint of their singer’s bluesy voice The Artakees create a combination of catchy melodies with fuzzy guitars and the untamed energy of Medway Punk.

Fantastic young garage quintet from Germany I discovered last year.

After a Demo and an EP on Kafadan Kontak Records their eagerly awaited debut album has now been released.

It's available from Bandcamp, on Vinyl (limited to 300 copies) and as Digital Album.

Enjoy!

The Neumans - The Neumans (Vinyl, Screaming Apple Records 2014)

 

A group like The Neumans from outta Santa Ana, CA, USA truly brings it home that the real sound of the garage hasn't really been properly represented by too many young groups and certainly not in so many’s a long year. The great thing about this here debut album in its sheer directness, and pure simplicity. I mean why over complicate things when you don't really have, or need to. But that's not to say this is one of those lo-fi / no-fi two and a half chord drone slopes that likes to think it's in the garage punk family… Uh uh, no way Junior! Instead, these young "where it's at" hopefuls take several ladlefuls of primordial goo flavourings, infuse with scalding fuzz abrasions, add in heaps of screechy - squealy hypno-organ and simmer with a high dose of snotty vocals - preferably of the 'yeah ya cheated on me babe' variety. (They already got the bass and drums well-seasoned too.) Then they mixed it all in a vat somewhere deep inside a dark, underground cave but all the while makin’ sure everything is kept loud and wild and, voila, they (and courtesy of Ritchie Apple’s keen ear and winning heart, you and I too pals) have one of the coolest, most garage-punkin'est teenage hootenanny platters this side of the whole 'Pebbles' and 'Back From The Grave' series!

‘Fuzz Filled Dreams’ - also issued as the group's debut 45 - is a full-blown trip in itself, the group seemingly caught in some back-in-time whorl of nightmarish hoopla ard green 'n purple torment that is positively seething in it's execution! Other titles such as 'I Don't Mind', 'I Had A Little Girl'', 'Stroke Of Midnight' and 'Gimme Your Love' - plus more - all have a cranked lean-ness that will surprise and delight, and give even the most jaded garage punk know-it-all a brand new Cheshire Cat grin for days, such are the Neumans' surefire whip-fast injections of total unexpurgated garage punk grooviness. Boys 'n girls I urge you to get with this before it gets with you. This is the past, present and future of rock'n'roll doncha just know it!   -Lenny Helsing

The Neumans - The Neumans (Vinyl, Screaming Apple Records 2014) FLAC   320

Enjoy!