Archie Powell & The Exports “Great Ideas In Action”
Without missing a beat Archie Powell moves to the next level in the story arc from Skip Work, in the bouncy opener “Metronome” where he opines “Life is A bitch, for me all the folks you know…” Powell has a bit more acid in his lyric and distortion in his riffs this time. “Crazy Pills” and “Shooting Spree” take aim at the lost generation of 20 somethings with rotten job prospects. Fans of early Elvis Costello and Green Day with its roaring, kicking, defiant indie rock will love this.
The album keeps hammering along with loud precision on “I Need Supervision” but by the albums mid-point it starts to get a bit tiresome, although “Job Fair” is a spot on rocker about the frustration of careerism, with fuzz organ and guitars across a driving beat. Without a slower tune to be heard, its best to take this album in small doses, as the punk-pop approach wears thin, otherwise it’s the perfect soundtrack for todays slacker-in-training.
The Gilligans “As Seen On TV”
Once again the fuzz guitar power pop of the Gilligans greet us on As Seen On TV. The collective of guitarists Todd Borsch and Dan Mckenzieis give us alternating tracks of straight guitar pop (“She’s My Thing”) and 60’s influenced psyche-pop (“On TV”).
Plenty of great tracks here, generally harder sounding than the last album, for example “The Girl Has Got You Now” riffs just dominate the melody. Plenty of catchy tunes here, like the Merseybeat “Hold You Tight” and the brilliant mid-tempo “You’re Everything” reminds me of The Hudson Brothers. Many more gems like “Too Many Pills” and the swirling epic “Shadow of Myself” showcase a band at its peak and make this a Gilligans album you can’t miss.
