August 16, 2006 | Posted by David B. at 11:10 AM

To button your lips and sharpen your teeth

the slats

I know it's lazy of me to make this kind of comparison, but I can't quite help myself. The Slats are a cross between The Cars and early Clash, an unlikely melding of new wave pop and garage punk. The power chords here are loud and plenty, but their music has melody and form, and it's super-fun.

The Slats - Call My Telephone.

The Slats consist of Mark Tietjen on drums, Brian Cox covering vocals and "4-string guitar," and John Hansen on guitar, bass and vocals. These guys are from Minneapolis and Iowa City, but they're based these days in Minneapolis. One thing I love about midwest bands is that they're often stripped down to their essential parts, lacking the pretentious sheen that bands on the coasts sometimes have. The Slats are lean and efficient, and full of bombast. Good clean fun.

You can pre-order Boom Patrol from CD Universe. It comes out Oct. 3.

Comments

:-(
Why have u sold out to I-tunes????

Posted by: Liat at August 16, 2006 1:55 PM

what?

Posted by: robot mark at August 16, 2006 2:34 PM

Uh .... yeah, what?!

Posted by: Robot David at August 16, 2006 3:22 PM

I definately see where the Cars influence kicks in. This is pretty win.

Posted by: j2 at August 16, 2006 3:44 PM

yeah, i'm really liking this one, good stuff

Posted by: max at August 17, 2006 2:52 PM

Just saw these guys in SPIN.

Posted by: Matt at September 23, 2006 5:41 PM
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