The Enthusiasts, “Sinkin/Risin” 7-inch

cover-enthusiastsAs I said on last week’s podcast, sometimes the best stuff that comes in the mail is that which is totally unsolicited. Mondo Ray, Weak Teeth, Thee Oops – all of those acts are groups of which I never would’ve known had someone not sent me a record simply by checking out the website. And such is the same with the Enthusiasts, from a small town in New York state.

This release sounds like it was recovered from the vaults of some long-lost ’70s psych rock act. The recording, the playing – it all has that feel of a particular era, yet manages to sound of the time, rather than sounding as if it’s simply aping a style. These guys know what the hell they’re doing, and it makes you want to smoke a bale of weed, drink a few too many beers, and rock out in your basement with these guys playing over in the corner.

The title track does just what it says it will – it sinks down with fuzz and reverb, then surfaces, rising to the top with a powerful bit of guitar work that will pull you in over and over. The flipside, “Joanne,” is a little more mellow, but no less rockin’ and fuzzed-out. For what’s only the band’s second single (the first on their own Magic Sleeve Records), this is amazing. Really, it’s a great little blast of two songs no matter what, but this hair-shaking, air-guitaring workout of a single seems like the work of a much more established band. When the Enthusiasts drop a full-length, it’ll melt the needle of your turntable.


You can buy the 7-inch at the band’s blog. Recommendation to the band: next time, invest in plastic sleeves for the fold-over jackets, rather than stapling them together. It works, I suppose, but it’s janky as hell and fucks up all the other records on my shelf.