California X

Description

Received a 7. 8 rating from Pitchfork. in less than a year, Amherst trio CALIFORNIA X have emerged from basements and punk practice spaces of Massachusetts as one of the tightest new garage punk bands in the Northeast, teetering between various pockets of the punk spectrumÑdrawing influence from the worlds of noisy Ô80s Western Mass rock, fuzzy Ô90s garage pop, and classic post-hardcore SST sounds. Fronted by main songwriter LEMMY GURTOWSKY, their debut LP for Don Giovanni follows one prior release, a double A-side single ÒSuckerÓ b/w ÒMummyÓ out via the UKÕs Sound of Sweet Nothing label. from start to finish, the recordÕs eight hook-heavy tracks of melodic guitar punk could all be singles: The noisy vox and huge grungy riffs on ÒCurse of the NightmareÓ; the slower-burning head-banging pulse of ÒPond RotÓ; the shoegaze-inflicted fleshed-out melodies of ÒLemmyÕs World. Ó Songs like ÒHot HedÓ feels so essential youÕll wonder how theyÕre not actually from some long-lost punk tapes of the 1980s Western Mass. Appropriately, the band recorded the album in MA with JUSTIN PIZZOFERRATO, previously a collaborator with Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. Ñand though California X sound like they could have been contemporaries with those bands, theyÕre also carving out their own space in a lineage of their hometownÕs punk history.