Shake the Dust,
the Ettes' first album, is garage rock done right. Coco, Poni, and Jem, with the help of producer Liam Watson and his old-school recording techniques honed at Toe Rag Studios, don't waste any time trying to update the basic guitar-bass-drums approach as utilized since the stone age. They don't go in for modern tricks or electronic flourishes; they definitely don't sound like they've listened to a note of music made after 1971 or so. The trio members just bash the stuffing out of their respective instruments, Poni on drums, Jem on bass, and Coco on guitar, as they lurch from one riffed-out rocker to another. Coco's vocals have all the snarl and spit one would expect from a band as garage-locked as they are. Watson gives them just the right amount of reverb and overload to match the thick and heavy guitar tone, the thudding bass, and the crashing drums. There's not a weak track in the bunch, and if the balance is tipped to stomping, hook-laden songs like "We Repel Each Other" and "Dead and Gone," that's fine. They slash and flash by so quickly and with such ferocious energy, there isn't enough time to notice. Plus they throw in a sad, twangy ballad ("Soft Focus"), a restrained, spooky track ("Ghosts"), and an acoustic singalong (the sweet "I Wanna Go Home") at the end, and that helps keep it interesting.
The Ettes' debut is an exciting one, a perfect match of band and producer that leads to one breathlessly tough modern garage rock record, minus the modernity. ~ Tim Sendra