The Weakends s/t LP
It's easy to write off Feench garage-rock bands these days. "They all sound the same - blown out production recorded by one of the Fatals or the Kung Fu Escalator guy..." or whatever excuse. And a lot of it is true. Too much of a good thing and all...Yet I repeatedly find myself reaching for this Weakends LP. I want to say it's nothing special, but apparently my ears are telling me it is. It does sound French, but not overbearingly so...the production isn't too blown out, they're not trying to be overly savage. It's a good combination of bluesy Demon's Claws-esque songwriting, but even a bit more poppy, and maybe Looch from the Magnetix's use of reverb and echo. It's not an album trying to melt your face off, instead it warrants repeated looks on the strength of some well crafted tunes and well placed effects. Medium-fi production doesn't distract from the songs. I don't want to make this record sound too mellow either, as there are definite rockers here. It's just a solid LP reflecting the past few years of the French underground. Better than the Sonic Chicken 4 LP (and they have a slightly better band name as well) you boobs were flipping over.(RK)
(Rob's House // www.robshouserecords.com)

Demon's Claws "Weird Ways" 7"
Two tracks recorded in Atlanta amid their 2007 US Tour. Demon's Claws are a consistently good band that, for me, only occasionally break into the 'great' category. I always look forward to new releases though, hoping it will be a 'great' moment and feel slightly let down when they're just good. Not fair, I know. Is good just not enough anymore? I don't know...I guess when you've heard a band be great you set those expectations high because you know the potential is there. I never part with my Claws records, because I have that feeling someday it's all going to come together for me, much like it did with Deadly Snakes when they did 'Porcella'. "Weird Ways" is a Jeff Clark song, and is actually a quite beautiful country crooner with piano about the wiles of the fairer sex, of course. Makes me think of 'The Last Waltz' for some reason. Wait...are Demon's Claws the modern equivalent of The Band? Kinda makes sense. "9000 Feets" is a Pat B. compostion, and has more confident and heavyfooted rock in its sound but still lies firmly in the prairie overall. Really intimate feel brings these tracks home with that little extra something that makes me like this quite a bit more than the past few singles (even though the last Rob's House 7' was culled from the same session). I'm not going to say this is great, but it's better than good. Does that even make sense? A real nice little two-songer that perfectly encapsulates their Southern US-meets-Great White North approach though, and I'd be interested to hear the whole session now. I gotta think about this Demon's Claws = The Band thing some more too. Scum stats: 500 copies, already OOP from the label, which as ringing an endorsement as anything I just said.(RK)
(Rob's House Records // www.robshouserecords.com)

V/A Personal & The Pizzas/Bobby Ubangi split 7"
The big beef here is that Personal only gives up one new song on this and repeats "I Don't Feel So Happy Now" (well, they do change the title slightly, but it's still the same damn song...I'm not falling for that one.) from their debut 7" for some reason. It is my favorite song of that record, but what the fuck. That's what we call weak sauce around these parts. The one new cut is a primo slice though, another acoustical attitudical Dolls/'Tators-styled ballad that might even slide into kinder-n-gentler Dead Boys turf. Splendid, but I still feel slightly cheated. The Ubangi side has him doing two one-man garage slower tempo strummers. Ramones-esque (think "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend") in structure and simplicity. An interesting take on the self-recorded/one man idiom from these two, when you think about it. Not just Myspace weirdos and Sacred Bones recording artists are capable of operating a four-track by themselves in their bedromms/basements, you know. For that, I give this single bonus points, but still feel slighted by Personal for the rehashed tune. Two records in and that's all you got? I thought you was from Jersey? Scum stats: 600/black.(RK)
(Rob's House Records // www.robshouserecords.com)