...REVIEWS !!
GOLDEN
BOYS
"Dirty Fingernails" LP 180g
GET BENT 2012 I’m not sure what growing up was like for everyone (for obvious reasons), but I remember rock ‘n’ roll radio. Hearing that slight crackle of AM radio*, fantastic tones from eras I was too young to have lived in, but old enough to feel a part of. Dirty Fingernails, acts like a half hour window into that beautiful bygone world.“California” is an organ-laden anthem for a warm summer day. Shades of REIGNING SOUND are littered throughout; I highly recommend this ditty for your next road trip mixtape. “Run Away” demonstrates the incessant power of the GOLDEN BOYS. Not many make this style of rock music anymore. Music with feeling and color, tears and warmth, and just damn great playing. The GOLDEN BOYS are most definitely seasoned players, easily blending the greatest of rock’s historical genres to paramount listener satisfaction. If you can’t tap your toes to or get pulled into the honest sentiment of the title track “Dirty Fingernails”, have a plot prepared.“Outta the Dark” treads into COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS territory. A juke joint melody for the masses. “Older than You” rolls with such a powerful tide of rock soul. I can imagine this song getting hummed in the collective minds of millions; it’s got a relentlessly catchy melody and a steamy soulful backbone. “Sidewalk” is a 70s Stones-E™ masterpiece. It would fit somewhere in the Goat’s Head Soup-era or Oscar Robertson prime NBA era (if you look at things in this manner.
MRR #349 2012 TOP-TEN
RAZORCAKE 2012 "This record presents them as kind of like a less refined, more musically raw answer to modern garage rock elder statesmen REIGNING SOUND, while at the same time giving a nod to the hooky pop of ELVIS COSTELLO And The ATTRACTIONS...Dirty Fingernails is easily on my top five records of 2012 so far, and I predict it’s there to stay. It’s an instant classic and gets my highest recommendation".
AUSTIN CHRONICLE 2012 "Punk in spirit, rifling through dirty R&B, outlaw country, and vintage pop, Austin's the Golden Boys embody every great idiom of rock & roll."
GOLDEN
BOYS
"Electric Wolfman" LP/CD
german dutch italian spanish french
GARAGE BAND REVISITED NOV 2010 The vocalist try to sing as Screamin ' Jay Hawkins ....from his Texas hometown Austin when u hear " electric wolfman " cut . . Produced by G. Ashley ( Gris-Gris ) the Golden Boys dug 11 psychedelic nuggets tracks ! Lotsa influences " plainsman's lament" ( Lou Reed ) " she said it " ( Primitives ) " kontroll girls " ( Love ) " i 'm black and white "( Stones ) "etc.... A must for the Golden Boys !".(Patryck)
SLEAZGRINDER
JULY 2010 Austin Texas low-fi high-heart, bar-bait groove-rockers
pour steaming party jams and kooky kicks with righteous not right-on inventive
intentions like Exile on grain street with sweet rye smiles encompassing velvets
spunaround mantras like Lou Reed slipped down streets with Sly & got soul
but more than that it slips galaxie drifts of the erratic, ecstatic spirited
shambolic majesty of Alex Chilton's LIKE FLIES ON SHERBERT sozzled styles, none
moreso than kontroll girls, the aura of ramshackle paralytic Keatsy-cute bum-rushers
The Black Lips (see, especially plainsman's lament) & the ramblin', perfectly
legitimate child of Roky Erickson (the whole truth & nuthin' ever whatso
but, hombre's & compadr-esses) that is the stone circle spinning skyclad
swirl of goddamn i live the ocean. Texas, as I've ruminated on at least twice
before, rarely lets ya down. 'This is how we play' & 'This is where we play'
they sing on a message from ross johnson. Burn the map. Just lead me to the
water.
(Stu Gibson)
STYROFOAM DRONE Exactly two weeks ago on this day I put up the Vermillion Sands “In the Wood” record. Shortly after making that post I went over to ALIEN SNATCH! Records to pick up the brand new VS full length record. In doing so, the good people at Alien Snatch decided to send me a promo of one of the other bands that they have on their roster. That band would be known as The Golden Boys, who hail from the beautiful Austin, TX. They play a raucous blend of country-folk punk rock, complete with bluesy guitar riffs and giant face pounding guitar solos, and they do it all with an attitude that’s guaranteed to crack a smile on any listeners face. Now while the Golden Boys would be great just on their own, they’re even better because they had their friends the Spider Bags join them in the recording process of their album. I’m sure some of you are already familiar with the Spider Bags, but if not I would highly encourage you to look into them. One good way to start would be checking out this post on their first album, “A Celebration of Hunger”. A good portion of this Golden Boys album was done with the Spider Bags, including songs like “Plainsman’s Lament”, “Kontroll Girls”, “Goddamn I Love the Ocean”, “Mr. Dickles”, and the track “Dish Towel”, which gives writing credits to Dan McGee, who is the lead singer of the Spider Bags. The first track I want to mention is “Goddamn I Love the Ocean”. It starts off with some beach-y sound effects before you’re in the midst of a rolling drum beat, and shortly after you’re met with the howls of Dan McGee and lead singer Matt Hoopengardner proclaiming their undying love for the ocean. Their love for the ocean goes hand in hand with them drinking a beer in a Wal-Mart parking lot, as they attempt to escape their landlocked town in pursuit of going “anywhere but here.” Let’s hope everything works out for them. The following track “Dish Towel” is a unique one indeed. For about the first minute things are a bit slow as the bluesy guitar riffs bring you through the intro. Then a quick drum roll and things change directions completely. The keyboards dominate in this track until about 2 minutes in when a huge guitar solo comes out of nowhere to serve no other purpose then to rock-yr-face off. Before listening to this song, I would have never considered referring to a person as a dish towel, but now after thinking about it, you could probably make that sound pretty offensive. I would love to keep going on here, but it’s the end of the spring semester here at school, and I have a hell of a lot of other work to do. I’ll leave by saying that just about every last song on this album is worth hearing, especially the triumphant “Kontroll Girls”, the easy-going “She Said It”, or “Old Man’s Coat”. Just be sure to listen to the mp3s below, that’s all I ask. So thanks for coming by, and be sure to check back again real soon (ZC)
VICE.COM REVIEW This album combines many of the best things about Texas (bluesy Warren Zevon-esque beer-drinking music, guys with gentlemanly surnames, Greg Ashley) with very few of the worst things about Texas (racism, dickhead cops, people who won’t shut the fuck up about Texas). The first song also contains a keen observational “snap” about just how ugly your mom is. Let’s just say “very.”
TERMINAL BOREDOM REVIEW These southern underdogs have released LP number four onto the unsuspecting underground and I´m still waiting for everyone (shit, or anyone) to catch on. Sad fools. The first record was a delicious train wreck of sloppy good times. The second is a Gawd Damn masterpiece in my book and y´all should be hip to it by now. The third?the third? Yeah that's right, most of yous missed this´n. A Mike Vasquez produced gem that would saddle up nicely with any of the Memphis all-star spinners in yer collection. If it was on Sympathy'01, peeps be shitting Twinkies. Welp, this is their 4th album proper and 2nd one in a year. Greg Ashley tags along and twiddles the knobs, playing on it as well, but it doesn´t feel like he messed with their formula too much. Their formula being: Drunk. They all got that´n down. Screwball shenanigans start things off with the funk vibe of the title track, tackling Zevon monster love in a Shaftman way. From there it moves into Whiskey Flower territory, which is fine and dandy to me. Slightly hazed psychedelics and malt liquor sunstroke causing damage to the troubadours mind. Mynde. Play till you sweat it out, son. A long player chock full of grande southern stylings in the likes of Compulsive Gamblers, Lou Reed, early American Deathray, or even some Let It Bleed-era Stones. Texans doin' it right and proper; so don´t mess with it. Kontroll Girls is the hit, like an Arthur Lee tune with a Spanish touch all jacked up on trucker speed and Tex-Mex tacos. Thing whips me into a dance mode. Weird lil´ pop tunes come´n´n go with squiggly backup vox, way-damaged soloing and other downright head scratching studio noodle (check out She Said It and hang out till the end!), just to keep you on yer toes. Pretty great soulful ballads are peppered throughout this insanity to let ya know they ain?t just all fuckin' around. Will jams like Rock With Me Forever end up on my mix tapes for years to come' You can count on that, Jack. I could throw a shit-ton of references and more nods at'cha, but that would just be cheap. I´ve done enough damage already. Ross Johnson stops by to voice his concern for the Boys, and then proclaims it alright in the name of a party. Not nekkid, but whatev. Good shizz. Bottoms up.(RSF)
ROCK AROUND THE BLOG In the last years The Golden Boys has surprised always, to each record that they edit, in first with "Whiskey Flower" [Hook or Crook/Emperor Jones] of 2007, and later with "Goodbye Country" [Monofonus] of 2008, now with the edition of the new album "Thee Electric Wolfman" they cement the reputation of exceptional band in the production of a characteristic and very proper “garage rock”, produced by Greg Ashley (of the Gris Gris) and with the participation of this and Ross Johnson (extraordinary end with “A Message From Ross Johnson), this record is composed for sounds with irresistible energies, somewhat experimental textures for a resonant pallet of cozy mixtures, songs as “Electric Wolfman”, “Kontroll Girls”, “Old Man's Coat” and “Dish Towel”, intoxicate so much the slope more soul-country-punk, like that of the garage rock. "Thee Electric Wolfman" not project us for great dances, but above all it makes us to humming and mainly it educates the ears. Another great record! (Francisco)
MONKEY BUSINESS OCT 2010 Wow, es ist unfassbar was es für geile Bands gibt dort draußen. Die Golden Boys aus Austin, TX sind genau das richtige für ne wilde Party! Der Soundtrack für den Sommer voller Scotch, Drogen und neugieriger junger Frauen. Ich bin verliebt in die Platte. Das Cover ist zwar etwas blöd, aber solange der Sound verdammt noch mal geil ist, ist es völlig egal. Country, Rock & Roll, Garage, Mexikanisches Essen und ZZ Top sind die Einflüsse und lassen sich zu einen crazy Cocktail mixen! Die Golden Boys sind eine Band, die in dunkle, schmierige und obzöne Bars gehört. Um für einen Abend die Trinker, Nutten, Rocker und Aussenseiter zum feiern zu bewegen. Up Yours! (El Chico Loco)
PLASTIC BOMP OCT 2010 Ist insgesamt ein wenig ruhiger und relaxter als das Vorgängeralbum „Whiskey Flower“ (Vinylversion kam kürzlich bei ALIENSNATCH raus), nichtsdestotrotz unterm Strich keineswegs schlechter und zudem auch ein bisschen besser abgemischt als sein älterer Bruder. Ein wenig mehr schmieriger Zuhältersoul a la Andre Williams und auch mehr kaputter harte Drogenrock wie aus der Nadel von Lou Reed als wie gehabt. Das was die Band besser als viele ihrer Genrekollegen macht ist, dass nicht bloß stumpf kopiert und dreist adaptiert, sondern durchwegs und konsequent einfühlsam im Geiste der Vorbilder Musik gemacht wird und das von der ersten bis zur letzten Note. Der in vielen Reviews beschwore Hippieeinfluss beschränkt sich glücklicherweise auf Bands, die zwar das Pech hatten zu dieser unseligen Zeit zu musizieren, ansonsten aber mit dem ganzen haarigen Hippieflohzirkus eher weniger bis gar nichts am Hut hatten. CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVALBAND sei hier beispielsweise genannt und Lou Reed und VELVET UNDERGROUND waren ihrerseits sogar ausgewiesene Hippiehasser. Klingen teilweise auch wie ne punkigere und auch zeitgemäßere Version der FLAMIN GROOVIES oder der FLESHTONES. Die GOLDEN BOYS verleihen ihren Eigenkompositionen aber stets ne gehörige Portion selbstpersönliches Flair der abgefuckt-texanischen Art. Auf jeden Fall Qualitätsmucke mit langer Haltbarkeitszeit und das ohne das ansonsten übliche wenn und aber. Eine Platte so sauber und clean wie ein verkaterter, morgendlicher Tex/Mex-Chili-Whiskeyschiss in die berühmtberüchtigte Trainspotting-Toilette (Basti)
KICK OUT THE JAMS JUly 2010 Primera toma de contacto con estos tipos de Texas. Ojeo las fotos y saco conclusiones mientras pongo a sonar Electric Wolfman, el tema que abre el disco, un tema que suena denso, con base de blues y golpes de órgano que no pasan desapercibidos, pero… ¡no me cuadra nada!, estos tipos tienen una pinta de frikis que no corresponde con lo que suena… Pero me olvido de su imagen por completo y me limito a escuchar las doces canciones que entregan en este último disco, de una discografía que ya cuenta con algunos singles y un par de lp,s uno de ellos un disco con el cartel de sold out colgado. Una extraña mezcla de sonidos se combinan en “Rock with me forever” pero sin desentonar, mientras que “Plainsman´s lament” se agarra a las raices del rock, me atrapa ese sonido de órgano que apesta a clasicismo con estilo y entra en escena “She said it” un tema muy sencillo que sin apenas hacer ruido me hace doblar la rodilla, no puedo resistir el volver a escuchar esas guitarras y esas cuatro notas creando magia sin dejar de recordar a Lou Reed, te despiertan de esa sensación de efecto placebo con “Kontroll Girls” mientras “In Black and White” simula una versión gamberra del No Fun sin la intensidad de los Stooges y de nuevo raíces de rock and roll en ese medio tiempo titulado “Old man´s coat” y más canciones que sin noquearte se hacen un hueco en tu cabeza “Mr Dickles”, “Dish Towel”… y para cerrar otro artefacto sonoro como “A Message from Ross Johnson” tan inclasificable como la propia banda. (Oscar)
IPUNKROCK.COM Nos gustaban mucho los Golden Boys. O quizá era más bien que nos caían simpáticos: unos gamberros entrañables que de vez en cuando creaban canciones con clase, regadas, eso sí, en generosas dosis de caos y borrachera. De hecho, si tuviese que hacer una barbacoa a lo grande (y Dios sabe que me hace falta), los contrataba a ciegas para que animasen el pase de la tarde, mientras la gente estuviese dando cuenta aún del churrasco, los choricitos y los toneles de cerveza (Para la noche, los ZZ Top, claro). No creo, sin embargo, que se pueda sacar mucho más de los actuales chicos de oro de Austin (Texas), visto lo que muestran en su último disco. Prometían mucho hace un par de años, es cierto. Sólo les faltaba centrar su discurso disperso y apuntalar las partes más personales; superar unas referencias variadas que a veces los hacían parecer más una banda de versiones que un proyecto definido, y afilar una originalidad que pese a todo se intuía debajo de la fiesta vaquera y los desbarres varios. Por desgracia no lo han conseguido. Es más, en este “Hombre-Lobo Eléctrico” la dispersión llega al paroxismo. Hay un tema de cramposa lisergia casera (“Do the Electric Wolfman”), alguna pesadilla inducida por la mala digestión de los Fab Four (“Rock With Me Forever”), pedestres arranques en los que parecen los teleñecos atacando “Lonsome Cowboy Bill” o cualquier otra de cuando en la Velvet estaban ya los hermanos Yule (“Painsman´s Lament”), acercamientos -salvas las distancias- a lo que fabricaban los Meat Puppets de “Huevos” (“Kontrol Girls”), baladas tejanas (supongo yo) en clave perdedor de bar y algo de Rock&Roll ciertamente incendiario pero poco original (“Goddam I Love The Ocean”). Una frase incluida en uno de los temas lo refleja bien: “I´m not gonna worry anymore, what for?”. Apuntaban más alto en aquel disfrutable “Whisky Flower” de hace algún tiempo -tienen otro álbum posterior que no he podido escuchar-, pero se quedan en divertida nota al pie en la oscura subhistoria del Rock&Roll. Lo de la barbacoa, eso sí, sigue en pie (Cowboy Iscariot)
ROCK AROUND THE BLOG Nos últimos anos os The Golden Boys têm surpreendido sempre, a cada disco que editam, em primeiro com "Whiskey Flower" [Hook or Crook/Emperor Jones] de 2007 e depois com "Goodbye Country" [Monofonus] de 2008, agora com a edição do novo álbum "Thee Electric Wolfman" cimentam a reputação de banda singular na produção de um característico e muito próprio “garage rock”, produzido por Greg Ashley (dos Gris Gris) e com a participação deste e de Ross Johnson (extraordinário final com “A Message From Ross Johnson), este disco é composto por sons com energias irresistíveis e texturas algo experimentais, para uma palete sonora de misturas aconchegantes, canções como “Electric Wolfman”, “Kontroll Girls”, “Old Man's Coat” e “Dish Towel”, inebriam tanto a vertente mais soul-country-punk, como a do garage rock. "Thee Electric Wolfman" não nos projecta para grandes danças, mas sobre tudo faz-nos trautear e principalmente educa os ouvidos. Outro grande disco! (Francisco)
Dig
It ! (FRANCE) FEB 2010
Quatrième album pour les allumés texans Golden Boys. Après
l’excellentissime Whiskey Flowers, et leur Goodbye Country de 2008 (un
disque passé complètement inaperçu... Problème de
label, de distribution ?), on attendait beaucoup de ce nouvel opus, Thee Electric
Wolfman. Et on n’est pas déçu ! C’est peut-être
moins enluminé et surprenant qu’auparavant, mais que ces gars sont
forts pour vous pondre de vrais Classiques. On pense à Alex Chilton (“Rock
With Me Forever”), à Television (“Plainsman’s Lament”
où ils sont accompagnés des Spider Bags de Chapel Hill), au Velvet
Underground (“I’m Black and White”) et on pointe pas mal de
similitudes avec les regrettés Deadly Snakes. On a même un peu
l’impression de traverser les States en leur compagnie, des rues de New-York
un soir de pluie au Midwest profond (“Old Man’s Coat” exhume
les fantômes de Mike Wilhelm et Lynyrd Skynyrd), avec détour par
la Californie (“Goddamn I live The Ocean”) pour atterrir, évidemment,
à Memphis en compagnie de Ross Johnson et Jeffrey Evans. Belle ballade,
on en redemande. (LS)
GOLDEN
BOYS
"Whiskey Flower" LP
german dutch
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ENGLISH
TERMINAL BOREDOM REVIEW (2007) People keep telling me about this Goodnight Loving band, and singing praise of the new Demons Claws LP - both are fine and dandy (the Claws record at least), but this here's the LP that ain't leaving the turntable anytime soon. Seems a crime that folks don't really mention this band or their country-fried hillbilly & heartache, and that's gotta start changing. The Boys shrank down to a tight three piece and sobered up (well...) to make an even thicker sounding and lysergic-bent epic than before. It makes me wanna cry, how fucking weirdly pretty this is. Not as southern rawk or bombast as past efforts, but just as porch stompin' and soaked in despair (or maybe that's Shiner Beer?). Damned if it don't sound similar to John Lennon's solo output gone Americana at times (you'll know when that hits?), and don't hold it against them. Suits 'em just fine. Horns sprout up, warped tape loops warble along, fiddles and organs roll on out off into a muggy sunset. Its still got some oddball Texas style Butthole-ishness throughout the B-side, so don't think it all went soft. Wish I was lying out in a field of dandelions with this one playing in my head. Permanently. They could fill the Deadly Snakes void in your heart if you let 'em. All this on the prettiest creamsicle swirled vinyl you'll be likely to find outside a Woolworth's lunch counter.Can I talk them into a springtime wedding reception performance? Hope so. Perfection. (RSF)
TEXAS PLATTERS REVIEW (2007)
Fed on moonshine and mushrooms, Canyon Lake quintet the Golden Boys set the
summer on fire with their sophomore LP. Picking up where 2005 debut Scorpion
Stomp #2 (Hook or Crook) left off, Whiskey Flower tightens the knot while letting
loose a psychedelic Last Waltz Roky Erickson would be proud of. Matthew Hoopengardner's
steam-train opener "Yankee Dollar" shows off the Boys a lot wiser
and a bit older, thanks to John Wesley Coleman's hypnotic guitar and production
values that make the debut now sound like a demo. With high tempos come the
lows in slurring melancholy "Remember Georgia," Ralph White collaboration
"La La Birdie," and old-school mindfuck closer "If I Can't Hold
You in My Arms," further proof that the Boys remain Golden. Culminating
in horn-blasting, Sid St. Onge-penned "Dolly's Waltz," Whiskey Flower
takes the thrash out of the garage and displays it proudly on the front porch.
(Darcie Stevens)
SMASHIN
TRANSISTORS (USA) APRIL 2007 Every couple years or so someone comes
along and bestows the "High Lonesome" sound upon themselves. Most
times more than not such attempts at southwestern sound invocation fall a way
bit short of the mark. More emulation than assimilation. More play acting than
real living. The Golden Boys call the Austin, Tx area home and have a sort of
down home sound but they ain't gonna associate themselves with such silly handles.
Nope, if you were to use such a term to describe them the high would be alluding
to drunk & stoned mood the sound is saturated with. The lonesome part? Well,
there's some heartache songs and there's some kiss off songs here too. Someone's
gonna be lonesome because of it.
The five songs each from Matt and Wes, two from Nathan and one song acquired
by the band from a regional craftsman Sid St.Onge all mesh and weave into not
a tribute but a celebration of sounds, moods and feeling that is most likely
inherent to their DNA. The live and loose like their sitting/standing/falling
over in a room with a couple a mic's placed in the sweet spots recording is
the only way the ramble tamble shamble that the Golden Boys make should be captured.
Matt's "Yankee Dollar" starts things off like a hoedown on magic mushrooms
with an austere yet trippy guitar line and slurred southern accents hoot and
hollerin' about the end of the work day and things that Coca-Cola help go down
the throat a little smoother. The Wes penned "Bongo's Bongo's Bongo's"
are like the demo's of some dude who could've wrote a ton of hits in the mid
60's if they were unearthed before and the unworldly noise that comes out of
nowhere didn't throw it off it's tracks.
"Friday Night/Sunday Morning/What Happens In Between" is the question
asks "Remember Georgia" and the dark folk-rock riding into Neil and
Crazy Horse territory with a harpsichord and feedback adornments answer the
song gives probably won't cheer ya up but it's intention of pensiveness is much
more convincing here that 90% of the stuff that snores like Ryan Adams (the
one that somehow keeps a major label deal even though he insists on releasing
two or three lackluster albums a year that even his most loyal of fans yawn
about and don't even drop coin on anymore. Not the one from Midwest Beat...who
are deserving of a deal) constantly try to take stabs at. The high strung and
jangle clanged "Never Wanna See You Again" says what most everyone
thinks (well, not EVERYone but any one who knows what bullshit is loaded into
the statement) when someone breaks up with you but assures "We'll still
be friends". "Oohh Girl" it's like Matt takes the couple of really
good songs from John Lennon's first few post Beatles break up solo albums, folds
them up, puts them inside his hat, drinks and sweats all day then unfolds them
just to see what happens. Some few horns are added to the proceedings to just
to see what they'll do to the fermentation process. It's a pungent blend that
burns and soothes. Then some kinda mutation of the Sir Douglas Quintet's "Texas
Tornado" album, double vision and some old timey instruments like mandolin
and Ralph White of Bad Livers fame on fiddle as well as the trumpet we heard
earlier in the trip on the melodic, noisy and swirly (and song that has been
stuck in my head from this album since the first time I gave the album a listen)
"La La Birdie". Accordions (or is that a pump organ...I've had a couple
drinks myself this evening but I'm guessing it's one or the other) provide the
feeling of a creepy gypsy carnival for Nathan's first song writing contribution
on the album "Babushka". It's followed up with "Pretty Good Lookin'
To Me", another revisit to kind of thing Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers did
so good then accelerated thanks to a couple of white lines, a song all about
the dumbshit things guys will do while trying to impress some cute girl. "Billy
Wore A Dress" is like "They Saved Hitler's Cock" and "Annette's
Got The Hits" taken down some back road and given a shotgun. I would consider
Sid St. Onge's "Dolly's Waltz" (where the now departed from the band
James Arthur bangs the drums) the most "hard country" tune on the
album but I think most purists would get a little bummed because the band doesn't
try to pretend they're not half in the bag when they really are. After all..."that
ain't professional! That's why Hank got kicked out of the Opry." Yeah,
well...fuck those types. When I wanna hear a melancholy waltz of booziness I
want something like this-not some queerbait in a designer cowboy hat and a Hollywood
better half. On "Yeah, I Wanna Know" it sounds as if Wes spent the
day listening to Replacements bootlegs from around the time "Hootenanny"
came out along with a couple of Sonic Youth records then wondered "Ya know
what this stuff needs? Some fucked up horn section" then he goes ahead
and does it AND does it better than if Westerberg or Thurston Moore came up
with the idea..."Lime Disease" is a mood piece that gets all disturbed
courtesy of Nathan. "If I Can't Hold You In My Arms" caps off the
album with it's sorta hillbilly/sorta garage smoldering tale of loneliness (which
takes us back to the first paragraph I wrote here.) I know a guy who claims
to be the biggest fan of the new traditionalists of country music in the entire
county that doesn't understand why I ask him questions like "You DON'T
see the total pretentiousness in Hank III" then tries to change the conversation
to something like his favorite Old 97's song. No, he's not the type that would
get the Golden Boys because they've never been on the cover of No Depression
(but if they were I'm sure he'd most likely change his tune). "Whiskey
Flower" is not an album for those types but if you like a "roots"
sound where the roots have been pulled and transplanted in somewhat different
soil and allowed to grow a bit wild ya might just find this the best 100% completely
"American music" sounding rock-n-roll of the year (or maybe the past
few even.) (DM)
Hailing from deep in the Texas Hill Country, The Golden Boys have roots drawing deep from the window pane well of sonic and geographic kin like the 13th Floor Elevators, Sir Douglas Quintet, the Dicks and 10 million other fried honky dreamers.
" Austin 's Golden
Boys proving once again that...Party rip-off bands beat Nick Cave 's silly solo
shtick any day."
-Chuck Eddy, the village voice
"Another one of the
choicer garage albums of late is the eponymous debut LP by the Golden Boys.
Its not clear why this Texas band had to go to New Zealand for the LP, but what
the heck? They have a very cracked and shakey take on raunch-hootenany-ism recalling
members of the In The Red stables, as well of Memphis ' more lop-sided degenerates.
There are parts of this disc that cohere into something identefiably musical,
but not enough to bother us."
-Thurston Moore & Byron Coley, Arthur Magazine
“Some of their music
is loud and bluesy, some of it's countrified, and the psychedelic influence
sometimes comes out full force. It's raucous rock 'n' roll through and through,
with all the stomping and yawping that comes with it.”
– The Denton Record Chronicle
“Between the lovelorn
lyricism and noisy crescendo of “Slow Down,” and the wah-wah vocalism
of the vintage-pop “Ooh Baby Baby,” guitarists/vocalists Matthew
Hoopengardner and John Wesley Coleman, combined with the efforts of drummer
James Arthur, flex enough musical muscles to birth a sound of complete inimitability.”
-University Star For
Fans of: Cheater Slicks, Alex Chilton, Gibson Bros., Lee Hazlewood, Fireworks
RUMORE #217 (Italy) FEB 2010 Colpito e affondato dal disco d’esordio dei texani Golden Boys, Scorpion Stomp #2, mi sono scioccamente perso il seguito del 2007, portandomi il senso di colpa finché la teutonica Alien Snatch! non ha pensato bene di ristamparlo su vinile. Whiskey Flower è un album che stordisce e accarezza, un sottile gioco di chiaroscuri, un susseguirsi di elettricità analogica e improvvise esplosioni di strumenti a fiato, angoscia e eccitazione, passo sicuro e andatura dinoccolata, sudore salato e pelle fresca come una rosa. Un album straripante di soul - nel senso di anima - in bilico tra country spurio (Yankee Dollar), roots in salsa valzer (Dolly’s Waltz), garage-rock nostalgico (Oooh Girl), noise angolare (Billy Wore A Dress), attacchi epilettici alla Morricone (If I Can’t Hold You In mY Arms) e stralunate preghiere per sola fisarmonica (Babushka) che hanno il potere di azzerare il tempo. Difficile da spiegare, per esempio, ciò che evoca un pezzo come Remember Georgia, ma per un attimo provate a pensare a quale musica ascoltereste su una spiaggia desolata, in pieno inverno, mentre vi passano accanto Neil Young e i Sonic Youth avvolti da plaid a quadroni. In queste 14 canzoni ci sono le radici estirpate del suono americano che rinascono a nuova vita. Un recupero obbligatorio per chiunque ami la buona musica che si muove nel tempo e nello spazio, pur rimanendo immobile. Da centellinare come whiskey invecchiato. (MG)