First Impressions is a collection of whiz-bang reviews, primarily of shorter albums (EPs and singles) which are given a review after a single listen. This is a great way for TGEFM to showcase some of the releases which wouldn’t get a full review on their own.
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The Shivvies – “Goodnight baby”
Shield Recordings, 3 April 2021
The Shivvies, featuring members of The Windowsill, The Real Danger, and Giant Eagles, are taking the whole Ramonescore thing to a new level. On “Goodnight Baby”, the band works through a super melodic and catchy singalong with all of the buzzing goodness of a Ramones song. The chorus is infectious and the key change is spot on. And the vocals play the Ramones thing close to the vest. The lead vocals are about as close to Joey Ramone as I can possibly imagine. Sure, it’s nothing new. But the song’s cool stuff.
Favorite song: “Goodnight baby”
Reset – “Yesterday”
People of Punk Rock Records, 25 March 2021
When I saw that Quebec skatepunks Reset released a cover of The Beatles classic “Yesterday”, I admittedly thought “this is gonna be dumb”. But I was off. The song holds onto all the melodies that make the song a constant presence in the back of people’s minds and they obliterate the harmonies, which sound gorgeous. The vocals get the win on this one as they set off a blistering pace with the standard Pennywise-esque drums, some good bass, and a lead guitar that rips in ways that might make me mad in another context. But here, it works.
Favorite song: “Yesterday”
Shih Tzu – “Softie”
Self-released, 5 April 2021
Indiana’s Shih Tzu leads off “Softie” (from their upcoming Songs For Dumpster Fires Vol. 1) with some lo-fi shoegaze music, guitar tones that are gorgeously melodic ensconced in shards of feedback and noise. Then, after nearly a minute, the song takes off behind pulverizing drums and a frantic, gravelly-voiced vocal turn. The guitars, meanwhile, stay almost abstract during the verses, only coming together in some sort of recognizable form on the pounding chorus. By the end, it seems like the singer has screamed his throat ragged. This surprised me, and I liked it quite a lot.
Favorite song: “Softie”
Dead To The Last Man – “Panic Attack!”
Self-released, 6 April 2021
Dead To The Last Man’s Panic Attack! is pretty basic pop punk with prominent lead vocals and a bunch of hooks slathered all over the songs. The title track has cool bass and handclaps (a personal favorite) and both “Love By The Collar” and “When You Wake Up” have some really endearing backing vocals. “My Team Never Wins” digs into catchy repetition. But my favorite is the mid-tempo “I Wanna Be A Cosmonaut”. It’s a dumb song, but I like those, especially when the hooks and phrasing land right. Some Ramones fans will find stuff to like on here.
Favorite song: “I Wanna Be A Cosmonaut”
Love Hearts – “Ever True”
Self-released, 9 April 2021
Norway’s Love Hearts (a side project from Mikel of The Hallingtons and The Lemonaids) are sugary pop purity. “Ever True” is mainlining the stuff, with a little bit of everything that can be asked for in a pop song. There’s awesome melodic lead guitars, great catchy vocals and backing vocals, a cool bass-lead part, and a rhythmic hook. It’s a great power pop punk song, catchy-as-can-be. If you want enough pop sugar to cause a pretty fun crash, look no further.
Favorite song: “Ever True”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
