The second album by the tongue-in-cheek garage rockers
Beehive and the Barracudas -- nothing to do with the '80s U.K. psych-poppers
the Barracudas, of course -- is a playful but not jokey blend of new wave, '60s garage rock, and DIY punk. Recorded, as before, with an ever-changing lineup culled from the San Diego punk revival scene based around bassist/guitarist Kerry Davis (
Red Aunts) and organist Dustin Milsap (
Rocket From the Crypt),
Plastic Soul With the White Apes has a loose, party-in-the-studio feel that owes much more to old Kingsmen and
Sonics records than to the likes of
the White Stripes, but it's admirably non-retro in its feel. The 14 tracks are short, sharp, feedback-laden shocks, with titles like "Are You Queer?" (which actually does sound a little bit like
the White Stripes, if they ever covered an early
Wire song), and "Preteen Sexfiend" (which has the thrumming post-punk drive of an early
Mekons or
Fall song), and the bare-bones production largely works in their favor. It ain't pretty, and it's only occasionally "catchy," as that term is usually understood, but it works. ~ Stewart Mason