Name: Zig Zags by Zig Zags
Brand: Zig Zags
SKU: 759718526516
Price: 9.9 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly
Rating: 3.5 (91 reviews)

ALBUM

Pounding out buzzy, doomstruck rock that lurks somewhere between metal, hardcore, stoner rock, and whatever else those kids in Gummo were into, the Zig Zags sound like the undisputed winners at a citywide Battle of the Trailer Park Bands. With songs like "Brainded Warrior," "Tuff Guy Hands," and "I Am the Weekend," the Zig Zags seem more than happy to live up to the goofball persona they've created for themselves as beer-and-reefer-addled heshers cranking their cheap amps to the threshold of pain, but if there's a deliberate cheese factor to much of this music, these guys don't sound like they're joking -- they may know this stuff is goofy, but they're not ashamed to love it anyway, and guitarist Jed Maheu, bassist Patrick McCarthy, and drummer Bobby Martin are tight and muscular enough that this album delivers plenty of real-deal rock action, especially when Maheu's scuzzy but pure-beef leads lock in with McCarthy's deep, percolating bass patterns, even as the band is purposefully juggling cliches for effect. (The Zig Zags are also to be commended for knowing quality psychotronic cinema, as they name check No Blade of Grass and Psychomania in two of the song titles here.) And even if the Zig Zags specialize in cranking out the sort of ragged minor-key thunder that's been seeping out of garages, rec rooms, and the stereo systems of used cars for a few decades, they make it sound as if they've just discovered it, and as a result, this music sounds fresher than it has any right to be, and Ty Segall's production captures it with just the right mix of clarity and low-budget thunder. Gnarly, man. Turn it up. [Zig Zags was also released on LP.] ~ Mark Deming