NEW YORK NIGHT TRAIN: PSYCHIC ILLS

RECORD
REVIEWS

Nervous Exits
Get Out
Super Secret 2006

Ivan Sunshine was commenting in these pages about how the Gris Gris had the ugliest album covers in rock – what ‘till you check out the Nervous Exits’ latest Get Out. It’s a stretched width-wise oddly cropped close-up photo of vocalist John Yanklin singing (don’t get me wrong – he’s a handsome fella -it's just the layout man). There’s a bit of computery footage across the top with the old stereo logo on the right. The guys explained that they were going for some kind of sixties thing and everything just somehow went wrong. Leave it to the New Yorker to discuss cover art aesthetics...

But we are all well aware that contemporary culture just doesn’t judge a book by its cover – and that’s a good thing because inside you will find some super hard bluesy Detroit style rock’nnnn’roll from Austin, TX. But none of that Back in the USA pop – herein lies pure driving two-guitar Kick Out the Jams noise, and not the "bruthas and sistas" version... muthafuckas. The band is at their best when they’re freakin’ out – particularly on the songs that feature Craig Johnson’s saxophone. My personal favorite - the Yardbirdsy "Annabel," is chock full o' spazzed out Chuck Berry leads and a descent into utter mayhem. The recording is a little rough production-wise and the Exits have a tendency to ramble at times, but when they hit it – they really get it. Pure heavy-duty rock’n’roll hearts... on fire.

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