AAK Featuring Joey Image & Dave Scott

© 2015
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Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

aakLife had really been kicking me in the balls. My car had been in the shop for almost three weeks. The misses had started a new job and immediately injured her Achilles tendon. Eight hours in the ER on a holiday weekend, my first long weekend in some time, with nothing but bills to show for it. I spent the remainder of the weekend and the next week playing choreboy for my lady. The shit just kept on coming.

Finally a month and $2k later I had my car back. Wife was off the crutches and heading back to work. Things were looking up and there was a break in the clouds. … Life had other plans. “Go fuck yourself”, it said. Power steering pump number three blows a seal. No car again, and oh, that house you’re in escrow on, the seller won’t make repairs and your loan can’t go through. Well damn! I am tired of this scrotum football routine.

Today though I’m not kicking kicked in the nuts. I’m getting my musical ass kicked with an new release by perennial favorites Awesome and the Ass-kickers. AAK is back with a collection of hard-hitting (like a luchador) tracks. The new album is titled, AAK Featuring Joey Image & Dave Scott. It is exactly what it is.

If you’re not familiar with AAK, first, shame on you. Second, correct yourself. The band brings about a return to a simpler, fun-loving, hijinks filled era of punk rock. The sound is garage as fuck and all kinds of fun.

The new album continues in the vein of what I’ve come to expect from AAK. Odes to tits, STDs, and Fantasy Island hosts. Throw in a dash of classic punk covers and dose of guest musician street cred and you’ve got yourself one classic rock and roll album my friends.

Dig if you will these track names:

1. Ricardo Montalban 03:34
2. Horror Business 02:38
3. Douchie Man 02:47
4. Teenagers from Mars 02:37
5. Milky Tits 03:32
6. A Nice Song in the Key of D 01:20
7. Gonorrhea 03:18
8. White Hassle 01:29

The songs, as you can see, are short and sweet just the way I like ‘em. Punk rock doesn’t need to waste my time being all wanky and cerebrally challenging. Sometimes it’s nice to not need to find a deeper hidden meaning below the surface.

At any rate there’s a new album from AAK and you should seek it out immediately. In fact, go here and rent a copy of this biotch!

http://awesomeandtheasskickers.bandcamp.com/

Cheers!
Jerry Actually

Drunk Couples – Cruisin’

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Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

drunk_couples_cruisinDo you remember the early nineties? Do you remember when glam died and rock and roll made its way back into our collective hearts? Drunk Couples does.

I say that and you’re like, “what?” I’m all, “Dude I used to own Bleach on color vinyl.” Then you go, “huh?” Ok fine. I remember when grunge stomped the guts out of the hair bands reign and some guts came back into rock and roll, and well that brings us to this EP.

Most of the time I’d look up a band, see where they’re from, get a vibe for what they’re about, ya know, kinda see what’s going on. This time I’m going to take a different approach. I’ve got the Cruisin’ EP cranked on my headphones right now. I don’t want to know where this band’s from. I don’t care if they’re on their 25th bass player because their 24th joined the Merchant Marines, I just want to rock the hell out.

If you’ve read any of my reviews before, you are perhaps aware that I’m generally not that impressed with “Rock and Roll.” I’m willing to make an exception for this release. The tracks are tight. The songs have passion while avoiding being saccharine or trite. It doesn’t go into slow jam or ballad mode. “Cruising'” is five tracks of pure win.

Bottom line: Fans on Motorhead, Misfits, Tad, and The Fluid are gonna love this. Fans of Mother Love Bone might. (Unless you really were into Andy Wood’s vocals, then maybe not) Either way these tracks are decent and you should find this band and give ’em a high five or whatever the cool kids do nowadays.

(Side note: I wrote this almost entirely on a cell phone. Take that keyboards! (except for that previous sentence and this one, which I totally used a keyboard for.))

-Jerry Actually