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Album Review

The Fresh & Onlys
Grey Eyed Girls Woodsist Records

Article written by Ged M - Oct 30, 2009

Fresh and Onlys: Grey-Eyed Girls

The Fresh & Onlys, a five piece from San Francisco, are the latest in a line of lo-fi, primal rock’n’roll bands on Woodsist Records. This time the band’s USP is a sound that mixes garage-rock (the stinging fuzz of ‘Black Coffin’) and psych-pop from an outfit that has worked with Skygreen Leopards and Papercuts among others. You can group them with peers like Wavves and Crystal Stilts (the scuzz of the former, the dark tones of the latter) but I’d also liken them to The Wipers and Richard Hell. The speeding guitars of ‘Invisible Forces’ are reminiscent of the Wipers’ psychedelic reaction while there’s something of Hell’s poetic punk swagger in ‘Dude’s Got A Tender Heart’.

Unlike some of their contemporaries, they know how to mix up the styles. The short and wonderfully naïve ‘I’m Gonna Be Your Elevator’ combines Jonathan Richman and early Blondie in a primitive rock’n’roll chant; while, in contrast to every other track, ‘The Delusion of Man’ releases the beast for nearly seven minutes of epic garage-rock full of pulverising drumming and sawing guitars to end the album. There’s room for humour too, especially on the celebration of coulrophobia that is ‘Clowns (Took My Baby Away)’. It’s not the deepest listen (you need the Mountain Goats’ newie if you want to chew over your music) but it is a half hour of unalloyed and slightly skewed tie-dyed pleasure. Essential if you want the best of the new American underground.

Links:
http://thefreshandonlys.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thefreshonlys