Books About UFOs - Ghetto Blaster EP
(self-released)
Books About UFOs are playing with a sound you may have heard about before; garage rock. But rarely will you here it played with such verve, passion, and with such pure enjoyment. They have that ideal chaotic tightness that so many can't pull off. There are strong elements of the sounds of the Deadly Snakes here and maybe some Stooges lurking in the background, and that's a great place to start. The band's name also gives a good reference point as "Books About UFOs" is a Husker Du song.
The EP leads off with "Motorcycle," a guitar-based number that has it all. The vocals follow the lead line but add something more to the melody. This is the best track here. "Apples and Oranges"' is also very nicely done, offering the biggest change in pace for the established structure of the other songs, and the best part is that it works so well. "Already Dead" and "Far From Well" don't live up to the other tracks. They've got a solid if unmemorable guitar based core, but the yelled vocals can't quite take them to the needed higher plane.
Books About UFOs, as they exist right now, are perfectly designed for the EP format. A full album of songs like this would be too one-dimensional to have the same impact. Many of the songs are based on a single guitar line, where the vocals often follow the melody. Hopefully the next release will allow the band to push things a bit further without going all mature on us and losing their beautifully chaotic sound.
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