Rob’s Album Of The Week: Joanna Gruesome’s Peanut Butter

To create a memorable album and harness an excellent sound, it’s vital for a rock band to have a perfect balance of edgy noise and pop aesthetics along with a healthy dose of originality. An amazing example of this flawless mix is Cardiff, Wales’ noise garage pop act Joanna Gruesome and their upcoming release Peanut Butter. Unrivaled amounts of energy and danceable rhythms make this quintet an absolute force while putting your eardrums in a blissful state. Reminiscent of acts like The Vaselines, Pixies and Beat Happening, Joanna Gruesome will definitely give you a jolt once you get a taste of Peanut Butter.

Aggressively brilliant with a raw sound and pop harmonies, you’re listening to a chaotic punk band and then unexpectedly find yourself stumbling into a jangle pop act. The dueling guitars from George Nicholls and Owen Williams bring a lot of riffs to the forefront, giving the album a lot of musical muscle melding with the glistening tones. As track after track goes by, I get these images in my mind of people moshing and dancing with love abundant all over the place. Must be the positive rhythms that encompass the entire album.

It’s that time again. Are you ready? Are you sick and tired? Do you even care? Well, you should. Here are my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week. Can you feel the excitement flowing through you? No? Then crank it up anyway.

You get the grit and angst from frontwoman Alanna McArdle in “Last Year” and then the chorus kicks in with those dreamy harmonies that give the track a beautiful feel. Guitar riffs for days, “Honestly Do Yr Worst” definitely shows that jangle pop style Joanna Gruesome dives into, but the guitars give it more of a body to keep things exciting. If you’re looking for intensity, “Psykick Espionage” is exactly what you’re looking for with a rhythmic machine gun of drumming from David Sandford starting this one off in a crazy, genius way.

Joanna Gruesome haven’t announced any shows for the imminent future, but be sure that they’ll be invading the United Kingdom and Europe fairly soon. Let’s hope that they’ll cross the pond and show us what they’ve got in the States. When it’s officially released on May 19, grab a copy of Peanut Butter. I can safely guarantee that once you give it a listen you’ll enjoy what will be one of the best albums you’ll blast through your speakers all year.

Stream “Last Year” here: soundcloud.com/joanna-gruesome/last-year