The Maxines: Drugstore EP
Music Review of The Maxine’s new EP, Drugstore [K Records 2012]:
There is music that one loves because it introduces strange new chromosomes into music itself. That comes darting half-hatched out of the wild like some hungry mutant animal and is terrifying until one learns to appreciate its chilling grace.
Then there is music that gets under one's skin because it feels good instantly, like you were born listening to it.
The Maxines' upcoming EP, Drugstore (K Records) is the second kind. And it's great, if a little too brief. The drums are secret love-letter heartbeat thunder and the fuzzy tube-amp guitars are all gasoline, the tremolo undulating hot pavement squiggle.
This is highway music.
The sparse instrumentation is used to excellent effect, providing plenty of room for the muscular arrangements. There is something so primal, simple, and genuine about Drugstore that even the most perverse connoisseur of pretentious art-noise can't help but be at least a little bit charmed.
The Maxines will remind you why baby-you had a crush on rock 'n' roll in the first place. Pick up Drugstore, and you'll know what I mean. Catch a show if you can, too. They have an undeniable charisma and the joy of raw loudness is tangible.
* * *
Find out more about The Maxines on the official K Records band page.
And The Maxines on Myspace.