Harlem “South of France”

There was a short period of time where it looked as though one of my favorite garage rock bands might end up in a Indian gulag, which would have been pretty shitty for all parties involved (but mostly for the band, I admit). During this time, I at least took comfort in knowing that there is a band coming up the pike who would have taken a stab at the out of control, garage rock crown that the Black Lips have in recent years taken as their own. Last year Harlem, an Austin based group, released their frantically exciting debut record title Free Drugs. The album has all the right components of garage rock, with the drums bleeding into jangly guitars and some great harmonies over the energetic and frenzied songs. The highlight is the first song released from the album, a pulsing and rhythmically dense song called “South of France” that has a great melody hidden beneath some fuzzy vocals and tinny guitars, just like our recently freed heroes at their very best. While the production on Free Drugs, which even at “garage rock” standards is pretty loose, has many more highs than it does lows (and has some great song titled like “I’m on Drugs” and “Psychedelic Tits”) it is a great album that lays the groundwork for the band to make a huge splash in the very near future.

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