Notwithstanding their growing popularity, since their early days, Garage Rock and its younger brother Punk seem to have lost much of their subversiveness and wildly provocative iconography. This may be due to the fact that the newer generations of musicians haven’t been radical enough to go all-in into anarchic politics and dangerous rock’n’roll ‘lifestyle.’ As a consequence, it’s been hard to find new punk or garage records that matched the intensity of those pioneers, who were literally walking the line between survival and overdose while producing masterpieces like ‘Fun House’ and ‘Never Mind the Bollocks.’ NYC ‘s The Othermen, with their latest, insane sounding ‘(Do The) Stand Still’ three song EP, get as close as humanly possible to the raw, manic power of those records, while at once injecting a 60’s psychedelic vein into that sound, courtesy of Kayla Asbell’s organ. Their abrasive tracks are dominated by the distorted bass’ grating, higher overtones, while the sublimely demonic vocals of guitarist Max Frechette alternate rough melodic sections with sudden, devilish screams. If the EP’s title-track below doesn’t scare you away, you may want to check The Othermen live at Union Pool on June 16.
