Th' Losin' Streaks
Last House

I know it may not matter much to Debaser readers, but it must be said that this is the first review I’ve ever written. On the other hand, when you feel the urge to share a great album (or even a terrible one, why not), the desire to write takes over, especially considering there aren't many reviews circulating about the new garage scene, at least the 'old school' one. But I won't delve into that today, otherwise goodbye.

Th’ Losin’ Streaks hail from Sacramento (California) and are not a novice band. Brian Machado (drums), Tim Foster (vocals and rhythm guitar), Mike Farrell (lead guitar, vocals and backing vocals) and Stan Tindall (bass and backing vocals) were part of the Trouble Makers in the late nineties. Go listen to “The Great Lost Trouble Makers Album”, released by Screaming Apple in 1998, a blended mix of Frat Rock, Garage and true Lo-Fi punk.

I saw them last fall at Circolo Gagarin in Busto Arsizio, and they impressed with the sound compactness and power they generated. No wonder when in 2017 they opened for Iggy Pop at the Burger Boogaloo Festival. Kevin Jones, a freelance journalist for the KQED radio (a noted radio in the San Francisco Bay Area), commented: “If The Who had seen Th’ Losin' Streaks play their last song (A Quick One), I swear they would have left in tears, murmuring between them about how powerful and emotional they were.”

And Brian Machado's drumming is indeed the band's hallmark, a sort of powerful motor that never overheats, attacking snares and cymbals with wild but relentless precision. Seeing him live recalls the posture and gestures of certain sixties bands (The Monks come to mind among others). Primitive freakbeat sounds have been well absorbed by Mike Farrell, who, unlike the rest of the band, appears on stage in an almost Mod style (the eye always wants its part, of course). Post-concert, we had a chat (the scene is small and we all know each other a bit), and during the meeting, they mentioned the imminent release of their new LP.

And here we are, after the introductory ramble, writing about their third studio work that was released a few days ago, with the first 100 copies on Bandcamp selling out in just three days.

‘Last House’ is released by Slovenly Recording, a well-known label among fans founded by Peter Menchetti, the organizer of the “We’re Loud Festival”, an itinerant event that has passed through Reno (Nevada), Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Athens, Istanbul and Italy with the Rip-Offs, and which will be held in Puerto Escondido in a few days (mid-February 2024) with, among others, The Mummies. The album was recorded at Louder Studios in Grass Valley, California, with Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses, Fucking Champs) and mastered by the legendary Tim Warren. All band members contributed to the songwriting, also including a cover of a classic of the genre, which I will describe during the review of the 15 songs.

Okay, so how’s this Th’ Losin’ Streaks album? You might be wondering. Let's dive in.

It starts with “I Mean You” featuring a powerful and hefty guitar and bass attack. And it’s immediately a clatter of guitars and choruses. We're on the canonical standards of the genre, but it's just a warm-up overall, just enough time to enter the new dimension of the band with “Me ‘n’ Z”, a sort of Downliners Set outtake on amphetamines, and subsequently “It’s Your Time”, originally by The Weeds, Fred Cole’s first band who later founded Lollipop Shoppe in 1968 and subsequently in 1988, the too-underrated Dead Moon (ask the White Stripes for inspiration and vocal style) a song that brings out a killer proto-punk solo, and then “Last House On The Block” with the entry of the Vox Supercontinental keyboard accompanied by a fuzz tone, a kind of doped Louie Louie. “Shiver and Shake” seems to have come out from a Back From The Grave and reminds me a bit of “Il Come Again” that has shifted into higher gears. Side A closes with “Cooler Heads” and its lightning guitar riffs supported by Who-esque drum rolls. The EKO bass closes the piece leading us into a dreamy and claustrophobic instrumental second half where in the finale a keyboard emerges reminiscent of the more lysergic early Pink Floyd singles.

Side B opens with “Dyer Lane”, a creepy track, the keyboard loop is classic, almost fuzz-tonian but the instrumental track surf-like calls back the school of Satans Pilgrims. “Well Never” is as frat rock as you can hear today: the sound of the West Coast is always alive and the baton has inevitably passed into their hands. Tim Warren's touch is also felt in “Secret Love” with choruses and fuzz holding everything together.

“Cake And Ice Cream” is full of guitar shards closing in two minutes. The following track is probably the best on the album. It’s rhythm and blues drawing heavily from Downliners Sect, Easybeats, and the best Tell Tale Hearts.

We’re nearing the end and catching a breath with a big ballad encapsulating within a few minutes the thoughts of today’s Th’ Losin’ Streaks, taking their own words: “this album is about true love and good times. And wrong decisions. It's about breaking down. It's about falling apart. It's about sleeping outdoors. It's about Dyer Lane. It's about pushing until you make it. It's about EKO, Silvertone and Supro, Vox (Super Continental) and Hohner Marine Band. And about a 2-inch tape. It’s about pestilence, politics, war, or the hands of time. It’s about the ice cream man after the apocalypse. It’s a trans-world punk rave. It's about Link Wray, The Sonics and Downliners Sect. It’s about the Rolling Stones’ Sam Cooke cover. It’s about folk rock. It's about time slipping away (but which isn't now). It’s about bullshit. It’s about being too late, always too late. It’s about aging and those who never will. It’s about the person you dream of but will never have. It’s about nothing in this world. It’s about surviving self-destruction in a T-Minus. And it’s about the other side.

Bonus track: “Mangalore”. Surf instro released by Jinx Records in 2022 as a 7”.