March 12, 2012

Staff Pick

Every so often here at Repo we like to pick one record that we can all agree on as being the one thing we can't stop listening to. The one we pick today is....

The Tough Shits - The Tough Shits
(Burger Records)




Philly Favs The Tough Shits have finally gotten their debut record pressed on wax! This is one of the releases I've been looking forward to for awhile now since I never got hold of the cassette version that came out in early 2011. I've been to plenty of their shows and loved the raw rock'n'roll energy they pumped out, now there is the physical testament to that sound.
And First off.... It's not quite as dirty as I was expecting. I sorta walked into this thinking that the record was gonna be a "Holy shit I've got a killer Hang over... what did we do last night? What, we made a record?" kind of record. It's a much nicer record than that. And that's only referring to the sound of the record which is clean, has bright guitars and out in front vocals. But after the first half of the first song you realize that the clean sound highlights the song writing skill of these dudes. Hearing the guitar strum away without swimming in distortion and reverb is refreshing and the vocals come right at you which is perfect on those tracks that plead for your sympathy (She's a Loner). So overall the record sounds great.
But once you take a listen to the lyrics you're reminded that, yes, this is gang of misfits you've seen at shows all around town. Some tracks go the way of girls and space heaters(?) while the others speak of being a poor dude and living it up. My favorite line is on Try Not To Laugh where the words go "In the middle of a line of coke...... Try not to laugh" enough said. In short the album is 12 hook filled, well crafted garage punk tunes that demand a second play. This is the perfect thing to listen to now that the weather is getting nicer, it's a summer party record without a doubt.

Oh, Did I mention it's only 11.00!




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