Album Details

• Artist: The Maxines
• EP:
Drugstore
• Label: K Records
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2012-01-01

In four songs and seven minutes, The Maxines manage to charm and stick in your head with crunchy melodic punk that does not make that seem an oxymoron after all. Their new "Drugstore EP" is  trashy but catchy garage rock at its best, with a sense of effortless, tossed-off exuberance.

"Ghost In the Cove" is probably the best track, certainly has the best lyrics. Guitarist Matt Murillo and drummer Kelly Norman share vocals, which range from snotty to shoegaze in tone. Musically, it is all grit, with Murillo's guitar especially helping the duo to stretch beyond the limitations of that lineup. The songs may be short, but the sound is BIG. That is probably most successfully delivered on the title track.

Like their echoing riffs, "Drugstore" lingers longer than its seven minutes might suggest. The Maxines' juice lies in its stripped down but rich power pop, the kind used to be background music for summer parties or pre-show drink-fests. This is a record that sounds like it has lived with you for years, and been there for a lot of good times.

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