The Monocles, The Monocles

First off, I’ve got to give Houston garage-rockers The Monocles credit for knowing which the absolutely perfect song to start with. While all of the band’s brand-new 7″ is good, A-side “Out of Your Mind” is downright excellent, a door-kicking blast of streetwise rawk that owes equal amounts to Spirit of ’69-era streetpunk and bands like The Sonics or Gas Huffer (with a little surf-rock as a chaser, to boot). I’m still a little hazy on the lyrics, even after repeated listens, but that stomping, heroic lead-in has been stuck in my brain for days, proving harder to dislodge than even some of the insanely catchy kid-music my daughter listens to.

On the flip, “Tonight” is slower and more delicate, sort of like a less-peppy Hives track, but it runs into the same problem I seem to have with the Hives themselves: when the band slows things down, the energy just gets sucked out of the song. I know, I know — playing fast is no substitute for a good song. Sometimes, though, it sure helps. Luckily, the Monocles pick the pace up again with the sharp Rocket from the Crypt-isms of “Darken Your Door” (love the frantic part at the end with the grunting) and after my feet catch the tempo again, the world seems right as rain once more.