THE STEPBROTHERS
Baby It's Over (Licorice Tree)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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The Stepbrothers succeed in blending garage with soul in a way that doesn't leave most of the garage behind. Plenty of garage bands go this route, and many do quite nicely, but usually there's a distinct split on their albums between the garage songs and the soul songs. "Going Back To Miami" explodes out of the speakers in a frenzy the MC5 woulda been proud to be in the middle of, and while it never loses its loose, rocketing feel, there's a fuzzy, thumping soul riff underneath that could have come out of Stax. This killer Austin, Texas group didn't just come out of nowhere, as it turns out. Mike Mariconda is better known from his days as a Devil Dog and, later, a Raunch Hand, and the rest of the guys have been around, as well (Sonny Morales played with the Titz... if you'll pardon the expression, Jeff Linton with the Damn Times, Matt Smith with White Heat and Pat Pestorius with The Stingers). This isn't the most consistent album of the young year; there's more than a little filler present, but the extremely high quality of the better tracks buys the duds a little wiggle room. Who knows if this will turn out to be a one-off or the beginning of a beautiful relationship for The Stepbrothers, but here's hoping they don't refine that sound too much. It's nice and nasty, and perfectly soulful, just like it is. They get a bonus point for the twisted cover idea, too. It doesn't look like anything at all, except some strange little hole with something gleaming in it. When you open the jewel box you find a second cover behind that plain brown wrapper, this one with a photo of a young woman aiming a shotgun. What was the name of this album again? Baby It's Over? Damn.

© 2005 - DJ Johnson