Pounding out buzzy, doomstruck rock that lurks somewhere between metal, hardcore, stoner rock, and whatever else those kids in Gummo were into,
the Zig Zags
sound like the undisputed winners at a citywide Battle of the Trailer Park Bands. With songs like "Brainded Warrior," "Tuff Guy Hands," and "I Am the Weekend,"
seem more than happy to live up to the goofball persona they've created for themselves as beer-and-reefer-addled heshers cranking their cheap amps to the threshold of pain, but if there's a deliberate cheese factor to much of this music, these guys don't sound like they're joking -- they may know this stuff is goofy, but they're not ashamed to love it anyway, and guitarist
Jed Maheu
, bassist
Patrick McCarthy
, and drummer
Bobby Martin
are tight and muscular enough that this album delivers plenty of real-deal rock action, especially when
Maheu
's scuzzy but pure-beef leads lock in with
McCarthy
's deep, percolating bass patterns, even as the band is purposefully juggling cliches for effect. (The
Zig Zags
are also to be commended for knowing quality psychotronic cinema, as they name check No Blade of Grass and Psychomania in two of the song titles here.) And even if
specialize in cranking out the sort of ragged minor-key thunder that's been seeping out of garages, rec rooms, and the stereo systems of used cars for a few decades, they make it sound as if they've just discovered it, and as a result, this music sounds fresher than it has any right to be, and
Ty Segall
's production captures it with just the right mix of clarity and low-budget thunder. Gnarly, man. Turn it up. ~ Mark Deming