Thee Dirty Rats Humans Out LP
We’re in desperate need for a new wave of garage that doesn’t feel like an echo of an echo of the past. There have obviously been great garage rock duos that loom large over the scene, and THEE DIRTY RATS feel in step with the tradition, but the use of cigar box guitar that truly sounds like shit (not a compliment in this case) and distant and muddy drums makes most of the affair feel hollow. One high point that actually uses the crappy sound to an almost motorik effect is the uncharacteristically effective “Headache.” I could hang if the rest of this LP sounded the same, a blood rush of nearly industrial rock that touches base with SUICIDE and NEU! more so than anything from the garage canon. Likewise, the following track “Plastic Veins,” with its JESUS AND MARY CHAIN bubblegum goth aura, satisfies by doing something not altogether new but with a steely confidence and bummer vibe that I just want more of. Like any subgenre, the formula works best when used against itself, and I wish this Brazilian two-piece took that more to heart.