31st March 2010

Audio

Mark Sultan - Icicles
$ (Last Gang Records)

You of course know Mark Sultan as BBQ from The King Khan & BBQ Show; these guys are really kicking their music’s ass as of late.  This record is no exception.  For the uninitiated: Mark Sultan and King Khan are at the forefront of the hipster garage-rock scene, and for good reason.  This stuff kicks ass.  It’s simple, catchy stuff with that lo-fi crunch all over the place, and incredibly sing-a-long-able lyrics.

Cuts like “Icicles” and “Waiting For Me” have some of the best fuzz guitar tone I’ve heard in a long time.  This is like, “The Shag” good.  And Sultan is experimenting with some cool stuff on here as well.  The song “Status” includes a good bit of noise music, which I was not really expecting.  And a couple of songs are upwards of six(!) minutes long.  This isn’t (all) the stripped-down, bare-bones garage pop of The King Khan & BBQ Show.  The energy is still there, and they keep it pretty simple.  But they’re settling in, and stretching out a little bit.  And it’s cool.  Way cool.

Tagged: stuck in thee garage