teena 005

Not-so-hot on the heels of 2002's eponymous debut, L.A.'s most dysfunctional garage band return with 14 new songs guaranteed to stick to your eardrums like an old piece of chewing gum. Produced by the group with Pete Magdaleno (Wondermints / Hangmen / Kiss), Gigantes Del Pop soundly confirms comparisons to everyone from the Kinks and Real Kids to the Archies and the Mummies, as the Shakes effortlessly swerve from bubblegum-stained powerpop ("All Messed Up") to hopped-up-on-goofballs beat raveups ("Dont Get It") to 12-string guitar-pop (" In My Hair") to epic psychedelia ("Satellite Girl") to post-punk surf ("Manchester 90210") to complete and utter lunacy (The Mumps classic "Crocodile Tears"). Vocalist/guitarist Peter Gilabert's songs sound something like Ray Davies might have come up with, had he spent his adolescence frying his brains with bad tv, punk rock and cheap LSD. The band also features bassist Janet Housden, who played drums in Redd Kross years and years ago and wishes everyone would just shut up about it already. With the recent additions of notorious garage rock DJ Dan Collins on Farfisa and drummer Andrew Chojnacki of Peachfuzz, the Shakes are louder and more obnoxious than ever. Gloriously out-of-step with the current crop of freeze-dried/pre-fab idols and a-holes, the Shakes can only aspire to -- as they proclaim in the album's opening moments -- "save the world with our songs about girls." Hell, at this point, anything's possible; as one champion of the Shakes' twisted take on pop was keen to point out: even Manson liked the Beatles.