Labels: Take Root
Review by: Andy Malcolm
The Ettes are playing some pretty solid garage rock on this 5 track EP. “No Home” oozes out of the speakers with belching bass, and effortlessly sassy vocals from a lass that goes by the monicker Coco. Clearly no clown here though. This is unashamedly retro stuff, but with very modern production on top of things. Most bands that I hear playing this kind of music tend to not bother with production at all, or intentionally make it sound old fashioned, but the Ettes clearly have a bit of a budget, as evidenced by the fact that they have toured with Kings of Leon. So what you have is some pretty simple music, focusing on the persistent beat and great vocals. Two of the 5 songs ont this EP are live recordings, which is a bit of a shame, I would like to have heard more of what they were doing to form a more concrete opinion than “Yeah, that’s not too bad”. However, the live tracks do suggest that freed from the studio they actually cut loose a bit more, sounding more energetic and excitable.
I like what the band are doing here for the most part, but it does appear aimed at a more indie crowd than your usual garage rock band would go for, and it lacks the vital element of damaged weirdness that I tend to associate with my preferred bands in this genre. Regardless, I’d rather we were getting music like this sent for review than most of the other junk that arrives on my doorstep.