The Blind Shake make music that sounds like the score to an imagined punk rock horror movie, in which some ill-mannered alien invasion force is making its way through a rundown urban center somewhere in the Midwest. That's meant to be a compliment, and on 2016's
Celebrate Your Worth, the Minneapolis-based trio has conjured the sound of a fright flick you'd be sure to see on opening night. Mike Blaha's baritone guitar gives this music a tight but rumbling bottom end that's more flexible than a bass and also generates an impressive degree of menace. His brother Jim Blaha's guitar work starts with the echo and trebly wiggle of traditional surf guitar rudiments and filters it through layers of indie rock noise until he's reworked it all into the howl of something that could be chasing you. And Dave Roper's drumming is muscular and on point, laying out a precise 4/4 with just enough fills to give the music the right color and texture. Bring the three guys together, and you have a band that's ferociously tight and forceful, and they're playing at the top of their game on
Celebrate Your Worth. Lyrically, the album's nine songs are murky, but they suit the melodies well enough, and Mike's vocals have a reedy snarl that makes them cut impressively deep. And Chris Woodhouse's recording is short on frills but makes this band sound as big, bold, and bruising as it needs to be.
The Blind Shake's style and attack set them apart from their peers, and on
Celebrate Your Worth, they're going to give you the fear and make you like it. ~ Mark Deming