EX HEX - excellent new power pop

but why would anyone keep something that is clearly personal to themselves

just got my copy from Merge and it came with a pocket folder! I will put it in my Trapper Keeper

PANAMA!!

as a contrasting purchase, I also got the new David Kilgour album

I really liked the first album, but sadly I'm not feeling these songs nearly as much.

The track "Radiate" is (by far) the highlight for me

Obv i kept trying desperately to find blondie refs

The guitar on "Radiate" reminds me of R.E.M.

"Want It to Be True" is like a lost track from Petty's "Long After Dark."

the less positive reviews in a nutshell: "it's not punk enough/the debut all over again"

yeah it's not punk like the Ramones, breaking new ground with every successive album

also just realized...
debut Wipers LP: Is This Real?
new Ex Hex: It's Real

That’s intentional; they have a Spotify playlist of tracks that inspired “It’s Real” and Wipers is the first track. Great mix too!

do you have link to that playlist? thx

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1d2YjBTl8GQizUDvLDWM4l

Tough Enough, Diamond Drive, and Radiate are my favs so far

I get occasional Veruca Salt and Go-Go’s vibes as well, but may mostly be the production

i wrote the press bio for this record but even if i didn't it would be one of my favorite records of the year. makes me want to hang out in a 7-eleven parking lot

It may be the best of the year

hoooly shit this rules

god damn

spinning it like nothing else exists

That part in "Want It to Be True" that comes out of the explosion back into the verse . . . .

First Ex Hex, then the Autoclave reissue. Where the hell have you been all my life, Mary Timony?

I’d vaguely been aware of Helium, but never gotten around to them. So much stuff to dig into.

Bewildered by a lot of comments online of thought that this is a disappointing follow up to the debut. As someone who only got round to giving that a few listens last year, I definitely feel It's Real is not only the superior, but a near-perfect album.

Agree it better by a fair stretch, although Rips was very good as well. The new one is slicker though, which may rub some people the wrong way

There are moments when I wish the new one hit a touch harder, but then I just let the dayglow bubblegum wash over me and everything is alright.

I think it's going to take forever to get tired of Another Dimension, it deserves to be a massive international hit 32 years ago

xxxp Most of the songs aren’t nearly as good. To my ears, anyway.

I wish the end of "Rainbow Shiner" went on forever

xpost fair enough, morrisp. I think I need to go back and check, it’s been a while.

The debut is more punk rock, this is more IROC. Loved the debut, but there's something about this one that makes me grin even wider. She deploys very specific 80s AOR guitar tones in a knowing setting, but never gets wink wink nudge nudge about it. Honestly didn't think I'd missed this Pat Benatar/Kim Wilde/Scandal style, or even saw it as something distinct, or that you could rework it without sounding kitsch, but Timony pulls it off.

Yeah, that’s really well put

theyre not as good in this poppier turn here. It’s ok, i wanted to love it so much, but nope. the early-brit-punk style chorused “whooaaas” and “ahhhs” of rips just fit them better, and the songs are stronger front to back.

I'm with bendy/Mule, I find the songwriting style more novel and distinctive on this one

(tbf i'm not done trying really)

I had my ah-ha moment driving. Definitely a car speakers album.

They’re playing here tonight and I could not convince *anyone* to go with me :(

I got a ticket to see them on the 30th and I am v. excited, gave up trying to get people to go to shows with me ages ago especially on a weeknight

Where Rips favored punk economy, Ex Hex go all in for hard rock excess and hair metal aesthetics on sophomore release It’s Real. The band drew inspiration for their massive new sound from Def Leppard’s 1987 release Hysteria, specifically Mutt Lange’s, “fucking incredible production,” Timony says with genuine awe. “It’s impossible to understand what it is. It’s not really a band playing live, it’s a lot of isolated drums and a billion guitar tracks and a billion layered vocals.”

From Bandcamp article

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/03/21/ex-hexs-its-real-interview/

glad someone mentioned scandal, for me this album is basically "the warrior" but indie rock

couldn't be happier with it

listening to another dimension is an example of poor fit to me. Its got a pretty usual metal-ike rhythm happening, and that is where i think im used to oppty for some flair, because that rhythm is getting trudgy. This is why metal had flash guitar? If these have it, they dont bring it. How about histrionic vocal are at least emotive vocals? Nope. Its just trod along. Maybe the next song will perk up. (It does a little).

I kept thinking “spinal tap could fix this.” im not sure that’s good.

Harsh, dude. “Another Dimension” is not my favorite and I could see wanting it sped up a half step or to hit harder.

I still love it: the slick production, the tough-girl pose, extended connection between sound/radio/dimensions, and pursuing your quarry that may be a lover but might be a favorite song.

The thought has occurred to me that this album is similar to Kaputt in deploying certain (though different) early-80s signifiers in an ironic/not-ironic way that both functions as a comment on the original sources but is effectively an example of those sources as well.

yup i get that, and i’m just me- like i think the jett-y phrasing spots in rainbow shiner combined with the licks work really well.

there’s also the fact i was not in that target market then or now really. So i end up eval-ing it as a genre thing not a fan or emotionally susceptible listener. I obv like this band a lot and it’s cool theyre going for it.

side point to genre-raids by more recent stuff, it does put you at weird listener perspective, rating or even liking styles of shit that are... not usually for you then or now at all. For example, for me: tennis

i’ll try to stop perseverating on ex hex. great band, decent album. diamond drive on the phones right now.

I'm digging this.

The guitars sound great.

The drums are kinda weak to me me though, feel like they could have been amped up

side point to genre-raids by more recent stuff, it does put you at weird listener perspective, rating or even liking styles of shit that are... not usually for you then or now at all. For example, for me: tennis

I find this dislocation fascinating. It helps me overcome some of my own hang-ups about music, like a door that can be opened to an alternate childhood, since I was a kid in the early-80s. Ultimately it gets me to like more music, which is always a good thing.

I just saw them live and it was amaaaaaaazing, so much fun

Funny, it's such expressive music, in a historically "raw" two-guitar rock milieu, but they gave it very little expressive interpretation last night. Note-for-note precision renderings of the studio tracks, band mostly standing quite still. Still a good crowd good show but I would have loved to see an unrehearsed moment, a few bars of improvisation from T-money, maybe a cover song?

Oh, you were there too! I mean, they pull out the guitar crossing move a lot- there were also some leg kicks and power stances and Mary was bouncing around a bit. Musically pretty straightforward but it's not quite as stiff as you made it sound imo. I had a ton of fun! The stiffest thing about the experience was the shy, lame crowd.

I counted one solid leg kick, a healthy modicum of side-to-side swaying at the mic, Timony has a way of doing a half-Townshend arm windmill that looks (to the jaded) like she's thinking to herself "OK, on the 4th beat I raise the right arm 72°," and yes a lot of good facing each other and guitar crossing. If they were a string quartet and they pulled those moves it'd be a wild gig; it just felt unexpectedly staid compared to I dunno, a Cheap Trick show.

Agreed about the tame indie weeknight audience but at least it was a diversish array of folks; I've been going to a lot of shows attended by all dudes.

Hey hey hey I distinctly remember 1.5-2 leg kicks total thank you very much.

But that's fair I suppose, though I wonder if it's a chicken or egg thing... like if the crowd was more loose / energetic would they be and vice versa?

I thought they were fun last night, though I agree the crowd seemed a little rigid. I wanted to boogie.

Also, one non-album moment was the spacey part where they segued from Cosmic Cave into Everywhere.

Look at that. We were all there!

sounds like the Austin crowd mighta been more fired up. I like how the bass player was rocking a Dire Straits Walk of Life video outfit

Yeah, I blame the too-cool-to-dance brooklyn audience.

They’re gonna become a 4 piece . Michelle Mae who played bass in the Makeup and Weird War and other groups, is joining on bass and Betsy Wright is switching to guitar. Betsy plays guitar in Bat Fangs too

joining the band or joining them to play bass on the upcoming tour?

It's Real sounded great at the pool yesterday

can't wait to see them on this tour

They were a four piece on tour with a guy on bass

Ex Hex Instagram says Michelle is “joining the group “ . Her first gig with them will be Jul 11 in Charlottesville, Va

They are so good live, real foot-on-the-monitor stuff.

that's a v promising sounding addition, worth sacrificing the ~numeric efficiency~ of the power trio for even

I missed seeing them six weeks ago because I was too hungover. clownshoes

Really enjoyed this interview:
https://www.thetrapset.net/210-mary-timony-ex-hex-helium-autoclave-wild-flag/

First spin of It's Real for the Spring. My wife is working so I can't really crank it up, but I do think the production or something is lacking in that I always want to crank it up. It needs to hit a little harder.

Fucking great band. About time for a new album.

Not sure if Betsy’s band Bat Fangs has been mentioned here but I like them as well.