CD of the Month: Weekends “Strange Cultures”

After literally and figuratively creating an impressive amount of buzz with their debut album and two follow up EPs, Baltimore’s up and comers Weekends have recently released their first full length record, titled Strange Cultures. Like similar two-man guitar-drums bands No Age and Japandroids, Weekends’ Brendan Sullivan and Adam Lempel produce a chaos of sound, full of texture and depth that would make many other larger bands painfully jealous. In their newest collection of songs, Weekends splash a thin shimmery veil of tropical vibes over a mess of noise rock, transforming a seemingly schizophrenic cacophony of guitar wails into something melodic, foot stompingly powerful, and entirely enjoyable. Strange Cultures finds the band bringing all facets of their sound to the table, making for an eclectic combination of head-swirling fuzz that sees the vocals taking a back seat to the scorching guitar lines and rock solid drum licks. The mostly instrumental closer, "Raingirls" is emblematic of their sun-soaked, axe-thrashing sound, part surfer-brah, part punk rocker. -Brooks