by JOHNSON CUMMINS

A couple of great local releases to scream about this week, so listen up, street urchins. First is the debut EP from one of Montreal’s newest punk upstarts the Jet Five. These guys rock the punky chic to the point of looking downright poncey, but this brat pack prove to be as young, loud and snotty as it gets. The fidelity is kept on the down-low and in fact, if I were a betting man, I would lay down serious sawbucks that this was recorded on a four-track with guitar pedals providing the effects. An out-of-tune guitar and hi-hats battle it out in the mix on the instrumental “From Outterspace” (sic) before things heat up with the Slade-styled stunner “Stranger in My House” and the rock ’n’ roll fury of “Night Flight.” While it’s only a brief, six-song introduction, songs like the Pretty Things-tinged psych gem “City Girls,” complete with a raging Farfisa solo, prove that genius may only be a record away. This is guaranteed to have teenage girls and nancy boys creamin’ their jeans and shakin’ it like a bowl of soup. Don’t just take my word for it—check them out at Barfly tonight, Nov. 23, or at l’Escogriffe with Demon’s Claws, Exocortex and France’s the Magnetix on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

Montreal’s heavy hitters Cobra Noir also release their mind-blower Barricades this week, on U.S. label Chainsaw Safety. Lovingly recorded at Hotel 2 Tango by the band and ex-Cursed member Radwan Moumneh, this is a brutal and punishing listen throughout the eight blasters here. Singer Alex Von Viper’s caterwaul, recalling John Brannon of Negative Approach, is what really makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand at attention, but it’s also the guitars that help steer the pounding past hardcore cliché. Cobra Noir’s real reward is that they refuse to cave in under the weight of their own heaviosity, with great dynamic transitions and songwriting prowess in “The Arsonist” and the heavy epic “Mind Destroying.” If you like the brutal innovation of early Converge mixed with the pounding of Wolverine Blues-era Entombed, you are going to be digging this.

Okay, the Mockin’ Birds may hail from Chicoutimi rock city, but I think we can blur the geographical divides of this decidedly Montreal column and make some room for them. Their debut Rockin’ at Midnight is equal parts numbskull rock and ’60s psych-pop. These Birds have unfortunately committed the worst rock ’n’ roll sin, enlisting a sax player (only the E Street Band and the Slits are exempted), but with songs as good as the Exile on Main Street-flavoured “Richie’s on the Moon,” the sweet power pop of “My Last Dance” and the Laurel Canyon-tinged “Oversea Girl,” they make it easy to turn a blind eye. Occasionally, singer Max Desrosiers does stumble on the translation from their native tongue to English, with some lyrics bordering on absurd, but this four-on-the-floor pub rock comes across like a breath of fresh air amid the rash of local stuffed-shirt bands.

FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS LISTEN TO SAX SOLOS… jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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