Clarietta

British fans of the glammy post-punk sounds of Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs took to their English brothers pretty quick; American fans of that particular genre mash are catching on slowly. With the quintet’s perfect ‘60s ‘dos, mock turtlenecks, and monochromatic pics, one might imagine a Merseybeat kind of sound—but you'd have to jump the pond, to the churning fuzz of The Velvet Underground, to nail a more accurate model. There's a hint of The Doors, too, in the vintage gurgle of the keyboards, and a flash of T-Rex, especially in the vocal hiccup of Charlie Boyer on tunes like “Be Glamorous.” Boyer’s vocals are really cut from the same cloth as Television’s Tom Verlaine (with a dash of Richard Hell), and that pinched sneer works best on the behemoth noisemakers like “I’ve Got a River” and the Supergrass-y boppers like “Clarietta.” With a number of British bands (Palma Violets, Toy, Horrors) successfully reworking the sounds of so many great bands that came before, it’s a fun time in the rock timeline; second go-rounds are rarely so exhilarating.