Mickey's Garage-Glam Mix So Fine, Blown Minds Inevitable

By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 14, 2010 6:20PM

While it’s certainly true that you can’t swing a dead cat in the city of Chicago without hitting a skuzzy, lo-fi and ridiculously melodic garage-cum-glam-rock band hailing the glory of fuzz and snotty attitudes, local quartet Mickey manage to stand out from the pack in several ways. Through the release of a single on burgeoning label Hozac Records, a 12” EP on FDH Records, and a DIY cassette that combines the two, Mickey successfully recalls the best of Bowie, Bolan and Mott The Hoople without merely recycling those bands respective bags of tricks.

You know the ones. Songs about girls with an insatiable lust for life, four-on-the-floor drum beats, hooky guitars and song titles yelped with a desperation that teeters into aplomb. Songs like “Electric Dreams”, “Love Letter” and “She’s So Crazy” ooze with a thumping, libidinous rhythm section bound to induce hand claps and loosened collars in those who hear them. And yet, for the obvious signifiers of the down-and-dirty 70s sound in Mickey’s music, the fact of the matter is this: They’re really The Pixies.

In listening to the second side of Mickey’s cassette, the signs are all there. Ballad “I Am Your Trash” nicks the same kind of clean surf-guitar hook that Frank Black and the gang would pilfer for “Here Comes Your Man”, while the raging howl found in “Postmodern Human Primitive” would easily make itself comfortable with the angrier sections of Surfer Rosa. In sum, Mickey demonstrates that, for all of their astute homage-paying in their music, there’s a fierier band lurking in there somewhere. Since the band’s reputation for exuberant live shows is well-earned, definitely expect a lively experience.

Mickey plays Thursday, July 22nd at Laurie’s Planet of Sound, 4639 N. Lincoln, FREE, 6:30 p.m.