The rumors about the
Reigning Sound’s demise are
apparently unfounded, ’cause they’re sure as shit back with a new CD of
rock and soul, served up hot, greasy and rawer than a roomful of asses at
a spanking party. The relatively clean Nuggets-pop of Time Bomb High
School and Break Up Break Down has been stripped down to a gutbucket fuzzstomp that’s reminiscent of frontman
Greg Cartwright’s early outfit,
the roomwrecking Oblivions, especially on the ear-grinding opener, “We
Repel Each Other” and closers “So Easy” and “Medication.” But two things
set the Reigning Sound apart from the rest of the garage crowd—one is
Cartwright’s innate funk motor, which puts a solid R&B groove behind the
guitar whine and grind – if your backfield isn’t in motion during such
rave-ups as “Get It!” and the Sam and Dave cover, “You Got Me Hummin’,”
please see your doctor, as you may already be dead. The other standout
factor is a mournful, bluesy vibe that shoots through songs like “I’ll
Cry” and “If You Can’t Give Me Everything,” on which Cartwright wails like
his broken heart is bursting out of his mouth. The combination of the two,
when fed into the Reigning Sound’s snarling trash-blues core, creates a
fundamentally deeper and more memorable sound than the average garage yowler--the party-now-and-cry-later vibe of Cartwright’s songs have the
same emotional freight as great soul tracks from the past. Oh, and did I
mention that they rock like a motherfucker? That too.
The rumors about the
Reigning Sound’s demise are
apparently unfounded, ’cause they’re sure as shit back with a new CD of
rock and soul, served up hot, greasy and rawer than a roomful of asses at
a spanking party. The relatively clean Nuggets-pop of Time Bomb High
School and Break Up Break Down has been stripped down to a gutbucket fuzzstomp that’s reminiscent of frontman
Greg Cartwright’s early outfit,
the roomwrecking Oblivions, especially on the ear-grinding opener, “We
Repel Each Other” and closers “So Easy” and “Medication.” But two things
set the Reigning Sound apart from the rest of the garage crowd—one is
Cartwright’s innate funk motor, which puts a solid R&B groove behind the
guitar whine and grind – if your backfield isn’t in motion during such
rave-ups as “Get It!” and the Sam and Dave cover, “You Got Me Hummin’,”
please see your doctor, as you may already be dead. The other standout
factor is a mournful, bluesy vibe that shoots through songs like “I’ll
Cry” and “If You Can’t Give Me Everything,” on which Cartwright wails like
his broken heart is bursting out of his mouth. The combination of the two,
when fed into the Reigning Sound’s snarling trash-blues core, creates a
fundamentally deeper and more memorable sound than the average garage yowler--the party-now-and-cry-later vibe of Cartwright’s songs have the
same emotional freight as great soul tracks from the past. Oh, and did I
mention that they rock like a motherfucker? That too.