As Boston-based deadbeats and nightcrawlers already know, the Turpentine Brothers consist of two of the Kings of Nuthin’ (Justin Hubbard and Zack Grimes) and one sinister sister from Mr. Airplane Man (Tara McManus). As expected with a pedigree like that, the trio grinds out saw-toothed basement blues and soul that’s cut from the same oil- and bloodstained cloth as the Reigning Sound/Oblivions and Deadly Snakes. But there’s also a rueful coolness and polish to the Brothers’ material that belies their rockabilly/broken-blues day gigs and also places them outside the pack of frantic freakers that currently work the garage rock fields; check the midnight blues stagger/swagger of “I Wanna Be Close” or “Why Can’t I,” or Hubbard’s mournful twang on “One Man,” and you’re hearing something more akin to the Gun Club’s hipster gloom or a less jazzed-up Morphine than, say, Thee Headcoats. As any biologist will tell you, mutant strains are essential for any organism to evolve and survive, and if there’s any musical genre in dire need of some fresh DNA, it’s garage rock. So here’s hoping that the Turpentine Brothers keep pissing in the gene pool. __________________________________________________

-Paul Gaita