The Speeds, Ask Me

“Ask Me If I Care” starts off the Speeds’ four-song EP with a promising if unoriginal roar: punky but not punk, it’s a high-velocity snarl along the lines of Sahara Hotnights’ “Keep Up The Speed,” full of blaring guitars, a bad attitude and ripped-throat screaming. It’s not a song on which to stake a career, but it’s energetic and just melodic enough to raise expectations that the other three songs don’t bother trying to meet. “Go Away” looks at the menu above and selects only “bad attitude,” building its chorus around the lines “You should go away / I can’t stand your everything” while the guitars grind away in a manner probably intended to be menacing. The Speeds turn to power pop with a vaguely psychedelic hue (the Mellotron thrown in at the end seems like a random afterthought) on “Nothing At All,” which comes across slightly better than “High On Cash,” which I can’t for the life of me remember a thing about, and I was just listening to it. It’s early yet for the Speeds, though, and if they could go either way at this point, they’re still ahead of a number of bands who are already done by now.