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Los Straitjackets - The Velvet Touch Of Los Straitjackets CD (los.straitjackets.com, Yep Roc - www.redeyeusa.com) |
Kawanga!, Rockula, Close To Champaign, Hornet's Nest, My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from Titanic), Tempest, Tijuana Boots, Sing Sing Sing, Tabouli, Sterno, State Fair, All That Glitters
Instro-maskuline fun from the Straitjackets here on their third album, debuting on Yep Roc Records. This album represents a good cross-section of the kinds of instro styles visited by the masked ones - an opening blast of turbo-drumming on Kawanga!, menacing and lurching stomp on Rockula, teenage afternoon date melody on Close To Champaign, double-picked surf-and-fuzz frenzy on Hornet's Nest, soaring Telstar-style seagoing ode to Titanic on their version of My Heart Will Go On, laid-back southwestern twang with mariachi horn accents on Tijuana Boots, exotic rhythm straight from the casbah on Tabouli, and on and on. Los Straitjackets are a rock-instrumental band - not a novelty act, not a surf band, and not a garage band. This album, like their previous efforts, has a very professional production sound, which seems most appropriate since these guys play solid, with precision, and with a lotta fun too.