Coffinberry
Coffinberry
Collectible Escalators

Miss Melvis and the Buford Pusser Experience
Miss Melvis and the Buford Pusser Experience
Self-Released

Garage rock has long been been a Cleveland staple. It started (arguably) with the Choir in the mid-1960s, and while the variations on the aesthetic have varied in the decades since Dann Klawon, Dave Smalley, Dan Heckel and Tom Boles first rocked it out, this town has surely perfected it.

On any given night in C-town, you'll hear raw, jagged sounds shaded with punk in amazing ways. And here are two cases in point: Coffinberry and Miss Melvis and the Buford Pusser Experience. The former quartet continues to chart its own propulsive path on Coffinberry, but with some surprising harmonic convergence and delicate elements. And the latter's self-titled "sixty-weight sludge rock" missives have an undeniable, lo-fi pop swoon that somehow channels the spirit of the Detroit Cobras and Queens of the Stone Age at the same time.

Coffinberry is probably the more surprising of the two, especially given their last effort, God Dam Dogs. It transcends their early post-punk loves and finds a way to incorporate acoustic elements (guitars, piano) into fuzzy, tooth filling-looseners that may or may not owe J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and our own Pere Ubu a thing or two. No matter. The 14-song effort, which has been dubbed Midwest Gothic, really is its own thing and it most certainly is rollicking, blue-collar, not trendy and selflessly fashion unconscious. "Long Story Short," the jangly, 60s-inspired "Smashed on Honey," "New Color" and "Little Machine" are among the best tracks here. Really looking forward to hearing this new stuff live.

Melvis (nee Melanie Fioritto) and her band take up, and, to a degree, shake up where her brilliant Flat Can Co. left off. Similarly fashion unconscious, Fioritto and company keep things stripped things back and fuzzy. It's very guitar-drums-bass oriented and the rolling, atonal surf sounds of "Give Peace and Love a Ring" really set the tone on the nine-song effort -- one mastered by Ryan Weitzel (Mystery of Two, Exit Stencil). The grungy, gritty "Detox" might be the best of the bunch here, with a gin-soaked pair of Melvis guitar solos crashing into Fioritto's low-end sultry punk vox. But the foot-stomping "You Never Listen Anymore" and the set-closer "Church Boy Choir" are pure, sludgy pop with the punk-ethos and disaffected pathos bleeding right through. Which makes them pure, unadulterated Cleveland rock classics.

Coffinberry celebrates the release of their new self-titled CD this Friday, June 26 at 9PM at the Beachland Ballroom. Special guests include Bill Fox, Founding Fathers and Uno Lady. Score details at http:/www.BeachlandBallroom.com. Miss Melvis and the Buford Pusser Experience open for the Germs at Now That's Class (presented by The Grog Shop) along with Krum Bums... also Friday, June 26 at 9PM. Details at http://www.GrogShop.gs and http://www.MySpace.com/NowThatsClass.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com

Wanna get reviewed? Send your band's CD (less than 1 year old) to: Cool Cleveland, 14837 Detroit Avenue, #105, Lakewood, OH 44107

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