On first listen I thought for sure The Ex-Girlfriends Club was from New York City or somewhere in Australia but it turns I was way off. Portland, OR is really far from both locations but this band has studied the records of scuzzy punk of Richard Hell and Cosmic Psychos as well as originators like The Stooges, The Sonics, etc. Their album Boo Hoo Hoo was released this year but if you told me it was some lost garage punk album from 25 years ago I would have believed that, too.
This is some raw garagey shit. Guitars are totally distorted, bass is fuzzed out, the drums sound appropriately trashy and the vocals are horny & nervous. Great stage names, too: Albatross - lead vox; Orion of the Apocalypse - guitars, vox; Karlito Franz - bass; Action Lord - drums, percussion, vox. There are only 9 songs on this disc and they're all pretty fast, always a good thing in my book. Lyrically, I appreciate the doped up sentiments behind songs like "Your Prescription" and "Coming Off Benzos." Other immature themes appear on "Lightning Bolt" and "Devil Eyes." There's even a cool, deconstructed version of "The Witch" by The Sonics that's bound to piss off the garage rock police. Those clowns tend to be some of the biggest rock n roll party poopers so that's another thing to like about The Ex-Girlfriends.
This record won't change your life, but it will definitely get the party started. And that's more important anyway. Play loud.
--Woody
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