Review: Ricochet Sound

Ricochet Sound

Gerry Alvarez Odyssey - Omega Tea Time (Ricochet Sound)
So you play the CD in the car, on the motorway, and you mean to review it the next day. But it’s two weeks until you get round to it. And you play the CD and find yourself singing along. It’s gotta be a recommendation. Gerry Alavarez, former guitarist with garage rockers The Gruesomes, has produced a scorching collection of psych-pop. Drawing on mid-career Beatles for inspiration, and with the licks and tricks to pull it off, this is my new CD for drifting into reverie. “No Man’s Island” is a sinister starter on a journey that by “Middle Way” is in the groove and sun-kissed. “Cosmic Weaving” is far from a call to lysergic needlepoint, and perhaps sums up the second half of this fine collection.
www.myspace.com/gerryalvarezodyssey

Light Bulb Alley - The Sound of Things (Ricochet Sound)
Boys, do we really need a photo on the CD cover? Well, your mothers must love you. I prefer the website, where you are blurry, looking away or hidden. After a rumbling, shuddering cover of ‘Who Do You Love’ we get into a CD of damned fine originals. This is neo-garage psyche delivered good and ugly. “Pepper Spray“ is a jaunty two minutes and “Eye in the Sky” met with the approval of my kids as they went past the shaking room in which I pen this stuff. They are very hard judges, so well done you. Montreal has given the world many good things over the years, but barring the Ice Hockey team I can’t think of anything else, or better than the dazzling, beautifully battered Light Bulb Alley.
www.myspace.com/lightbulballey

The Hook Up - Tomorrow and Today – (Ricochet Sound)
Ooh, I do like something that throbs. “Tomorrow and Today” is a honking, snarling grunge-blues delight. I love the Eddie Cochran riff of “Silver Kiss”, combined with sneering vocals and a bass line surely played on a big fuck-off elastic band. Mighty is the whining, keening edge that compliments the churning underbelly of tracks like “Bad Summer”. When they try to be subtle, the sound is less balanced. This is a band that needs to shout and scream. Stick to the hell for leather blues and rock. Check out their Myspace page and embed yourself a few treats. It’s well worth checking out the roster of excellent bands on Montreal’s Ricochet Sound.
www.myspace.com/thehookup

Carl J.