The Touch-Me-Nots/Red Rockets
split 7"
(Roach and Squirrel Records)

(REVIEW BY RUTLEDGE)

The Touch-Me-Nots always leave me wanting more. Ain't that just how life is? I'll get something in my mailbox from some wretched beard-core indie group or wannabe Casualties band, and it's bound to be one of those 30-song, 70-minute epics. But with groups like The Touch-Me-Nots, it's a tease every time. And that's probably the way it should be. The truest axiom of underground music is that the few bands good enough to fill an hour-long CD will always have the good sense not to. Rock n' roll is best heard in small doses. And if you feel like it, you can just pull back the needle and spin the record again.

Needless to say, this new side from Oakland's Touch-Me-Nots has been getting a whole lot of repeat play on my turntable lately. Andrew and Kelly have quickly vaulted into my top ten list of favorite current bands. They do the '50s rock n' roll meets garage-punk thing better than any group since The Spaceshits. And these two new cuts do not disappoint. "Life of Crime" is one of their very best songs to date, while "This Kind of Music" mines the gold that is the Jonathan Richman back catalog (There ought to be a rule mandating that all bands should have to cover Jonathan at least once!). What can I say? I love everything about this band: Andrew's Elvis/Gene Vincent/Jerry Lee style vocals and red-hot guitar solos; Kelly's perfect trashy drumming and well-placed hoots and hollers; and those simple, utterly infectious songs. These two songs have less of a rootsy/country feel and are more along the straight rock n' roll lines. It's the type of stuff that makes you wanna dance around and shout "Yow!". Amazingly for a band that's inspired by sounds from a half-century ago, these two sound so completely true and unaffected. They sound like a real band from the '50s rather than a band from today imitating a real band from the '50s. I would not be shocked to learn that these two really are from 1957, and came here via time machine to jam with modern Kings like Louie and Khan.

Joining the Touch-Me-Nots this time out are Provo, Utah's Red Rockets. This is the type of split that I really like: I get some new songs from an act I already dig, plus I get introduced to a band I'd never heard before. There are guys in the Red Rockets named Maggot and Animal. That's pretty awesome. And the music's not bad either! I especially like the first song, "Gone Crazy". It's a trashy, mid-tempo number with a nice bounce to it. Very rockin', and pretty catchy too. Think Oblivians meet The Metros, or something like that. "Waiting Around" picks up the pace considerably, and has a rougher, meaner edge. There's a bit of a noisy thing going on as well - but not in a bad way. At first I thought this track was vastly inferior to "Gone Crazy", but repeated listens kinda changed my mind. Two songs are probably not enough to give me a good feel for what the Red Rockets are all about, but I can say that what I've heard so far makes me want to hear more. And isn't that the whole point?

Only 300 copies of this split were pressed, so don't be dumb. Grab it while the gettin's good!


Lord Rutledge
August 6, 2007