Shifting Sounds / Double Helix (2024)
I wrote about Gentlemen Rogues for the first time on this website in 2013. That's how long I've been waiting for these fellows to crank out a full length album (I could go even further and say I've been waiting since 1995 if you include one of Danny's earlier bands, Jill). Every time Gentlemen Rogues release something, I whine about wanting a full length. They came close in 2022 by cramming two EPs onto a a 12" record with a full length running time. That was nice, but it's still not the same to me as a proper full album. Maybe I'm just old at this point, but I still feel that a full album is the best way to consume music.
Surface Noise finally delivers on the on the promise of all of the singles and EPs that the band has put out over the last ten years. Gentlemen Rogues have never disappointed me with one of their releases, and that hasn't changed with Surface Noise. It's an album full of punchy pop songs, threading the needle of being power pop, while still maintaining the buzzsaw guitar crunch and energy of a 90s pop punk band. Add in the non-stop hooks and singalong choruses that are sure to become firmly lodged into your cranium and I don't really know what else I can say to sell you on these guys.
If you're of a certain age, there was a time in the 90s where it felt like every day you'd discover a new band putting their spin on catchy punk songs. There was a never ending source of bands that could scratch that itch. In 2024, that well does not runneth over as it once did. It's getting harder and harder to find new records that really connect with me the way the older ones did. But every so often, like a beacon of shining light, some group will put out an album as good as Surface Noise and my faith in rock and roll is restored.
Here we are in the second week of February and I can tell you for a fact, there's no way this album doesn't end up in the upper echelon of my year end album list. And if it someone doesn't, then we're in for a hell of a 2024 when it comes to new albums coming out.
Gentlemen Rogues - Surface Noise:
https://gentlemenrogues.bandcamp.com/album/surface-noise-lp
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