The Touch-Me-Nots
Sheldon Munn 10"
(Yakisakana Records)
"It's Not Right But It's Okay" 7"
(Nasty Product)

(REVIEW BY LORD RUTLEDGE)

The Touch-Me-Nots are my bright new discovery for 2007. Except I didn't discover them. I was just lucky enough to find their two newest releases sitting by my doorstep one day a while back. And just the other night, I had the good sense to bust those babies out and take 'em for a spin. Damn! This, my friends, is what real rock n' roll sounds like. How in the hell did I ever con people into sending me shit this good for free?

If you read fine weblications such as Smashin' Transistors, Agony Shorthand, and Terminal Boredom, you were probably hipped to The Touch-Me-Nots well before now. We can whip out as many sub-genre pigeonholes and minor classifications as we like, but the only appropriate category for The Touch-Me-Nots is "rock n' roll". And when I say rock n' roll, I'm not talking about much of the stuff that tries to pass itself off as such theses days. There's nothing hokey, contrived, watered down, cliche-ridden, formulaic, predictable, or patently regressive about the music created by this husband-and-wife duo. There are definite garage/punk teeth to these tunes that will appeal to fans of The Oblivians, Spaceshits, and King Khan & BBQ Show. But ultimately, this is primitive, soulful rock n' roll rooted in the sounds of mid 20th Century American South: blues, r & b, and good old country & western. The mix of rockabilly twang, impassioned vocalizing, and catchy tunemanship really hits the bullseye. I'd recommend this band not just to the underground faithful but also to jaded oldsters who were already around when the first wave of rock n' roll hit, and who have stubbornly refused to buy new music since Eisenhower left office. There's an authenticity here that one rarely finds in new bands, no matter how hard they try. But perhaps "try" is the crucial word. You can't really try to make convincing rock n' roll. Either it's in your blood, or it's not. These two, they've just got it. This isn't cartoony, "Shout 'Yeah!' and get 'em to dance" rock n' roll. This is soul-on-fire, tear it up from the gut rock n' roll, full of genuine heart and rootsy grit. These records could seriously pass for long-lost demos from 1958, yet there's an urgency and freshness heard here that remind us why early rock n' roll has never gone out of date.

Andrew Levy (guitar, vocals) can flat-out play, and the boy can howl with the best of 'em. Kelly Tschantz (drums) is a primo basher who's credited with production on these great-sounding DIY recordings. And not only do these two have formidable chops, but they can sure write a song as well! The originals are all good (the best are "Burden of Society" from the 10" and the stellar 7" cut "Bag of Money"), and you have to love the covers. The 10" features killer renderings of Smokey Robinson's "What's So Good About Goodbyes?", William Bell's Stax classic "Any Other Way", and the Dion/Drifters hit "Drip Drop". The 7" features a rocked-out take on Francoise Hardy's 1964 gem "Only Friends". But the real story is the other cover: the Whitney Houston 1999 top five smash "It's Not Right But It's Okay". Holy shit! The way The Touch-Me-Nots interpret this song, you'd think the original was a long-lost Memphis soul ripper! There's just so much feeling and fire and raw energy in this performance. It takes quite a band to transform a slicked-out Whitney tune into something that Reigning Sound fans would kill to hear. For some reason, the 7" strikes me as more of must-buy item than the 10" (although I wholeheartedly recommend both, and 10" vinyl is just so cool!). Maybe it's the playing, the singing, the production, or some combination of the three. But on the 7", the Touch-Me-Nots sound like a band that's absolutely on fire.

I just read that the Touch-Me-Nots hope to release not one, not two, but three LPs by the end of the year. I'll drink to that!

Lord Rutledge
April 14, 2007