WOUNDED LION - Wounded Lion (In The Red)

Let's be honest, currently there is an over abundance of jangly retro garage/punk acts, making it harder and harder to separate the wheat from the chaff. Every week labels like In the Red, Not Not Fun, Woodsist, Captured Tracks and, now, even Sub Pop are churning out some new garage rock revivalist. Just as with any scene or musical movement, it is kind of hard not to feel burnt out and cynical once the saturation point has been reached; which was easily early last year for this stuff.

The one good thing that punk infused garage has going for it, over other genres who tire out quickly (looking at you chillwave), is that it is pretty darn timeless. There really is no more pristine form of rock than three or four folks plugged into amps, bashing out ramshackled melodies over sloppy distortion and feedback. This is, after all, what rock and roll is all about. Still, though, bashing out a bunch of noise and drowning it in lo-fi production does not a great rock act make. So what does these days? What would it take to stand out from the absurdly crowded field of wanna-be Nuggets worthy bands? Well, it takes hooks, it takes melody, it takes volume and most importantly the ability to make the listener smile from ear to ear while tapping their foot or thrashing around. In other words, it's got to be goddamned fun.

Thankfully for Wounded Lion, fun is their middle name, and they know how to throw in some hooks and melody to boot. Hailing from L.A., and having put in their time at the Smell, Wounded Lion sound fresh even in the wake of so many other retro-damaged garage acts before them. Part of what sets them apart is a difference in influences. Wounded Lion sound less like the Ramones drowned in Guided By Voices production, than they do early Talking Heads, The Clean, Modern Lovers and even the Cramps. Yet, even if their sound is a tad cleaner than the contemporaries, their spirit is just as down and dirty, if not more so. There is a quality to these songs that demands that you hear them played out in some sweaty club where the drinks flow freely and all your friends are there.

Songs like the absurdly infectious "Dagoba System," "Omar Walk" and "Black Socks" kind of make you want to pogo, even if you end up spilling beer all over the place. Other songs, like "Hanging In Ancient Circles" swing like hell while spotlighting a more cerebral side to the band, similar to S & E-era Pavement. Then there are just straight up nuggets of pop perfection like "Belt of Orion." Taken as a whole, Wounded Lion's debut is a heady, spirited and, most importantly, goddamned fun take on garage pop. It's been a while since I put on an album by a band that I knew nothing about only to find myself shaking my head and muttering "this is really great" by the time it was over, but that is what happened with Wounded Lion. They may be late to the party, but better late than never.