Album Review: Indonesian Junk - "Living In A Nightmare"

 

Signed to the excellent Rum Bar records, Indonesian Junk have been slowly making a name for thesmselves in the last couple of years. Hailing from Milwaukee, the group are clearly in thrall to the poppier side of '70s NYC punk and, let's face it, that's always likely to go down well with us.

I have to be honest, Livin' In A Nightmare gets off to a bit of a slow start - Kind of Girl and One More Try (the latter featuring Kurt Baker) are slightly sluggish mid-paced efforts which clearly owe a tip of the hat to the more melodic side of the Ramones' output complete with vocals which sound like a cross between Joey and Stiv Bators but you kind of wish there was a bit more muscle in there to push things along.

Happy to say though, Livin' In The USA rights things in style with a much needed dose of snotty aggression to kick things up a gear. The almost '60s style power-pop of I Don't Mind provides a bit of an unexpected twist as well which is always welcome.

This kind of sets the pattern for the rest of the album - Indonesian Junk sound at their best when they hit full throttle such as on the enjoyably sloppy Policeman, the chugging You Won't See Me and the low slung Stonesy swagger of Tracy which account for about half of the album. And while the slower songs comprising the other half such as Knew It All Along and Slow Dancin' are still perfectly respectable, the vocals just kind of don't really suit them as well. The closing power ballad Bawlin' My Eyes Out deserves a mention as well as it could easily have been a disaster but they somehow manage to pack the chops to carry it off especially on the flashy outro solo which is quite impressive when you think about it.

Living In A Nightmare is a decent first effort but it sounds like a band who are still kind of working out what their best sound. Hopefully next time they'll build on the promise here and give us a bit of a leaner meaner effort which plays to their strengths a bit more comprehensively. So not quite perfect but, y'know, that's okay, everybody's allowed a first album to test the water.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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