Reviews

Target Earth

Angel Face 5.1 / Driftin’ Away 7”

Debut single from Tokyo’s ANGEL FACE. The band features Fink (TEENGENERATE, FIRESTARTER, RAYDIOS) on guitar and vocals, Toyozo (FADEAWAYS) on bass, and Rayco (RULER, TRIPLE JUNK) on drums. “5.1” is a blaster from the start, featuring a straight rock’n’roll riff on repeat with clattering drums and gut chugging bass—really high energy, almost like a DEATH arrangement, with fast changes and endless drum fills that eventually break for that main riff to grumble alone. On the back side, “Driftin’ Away” has a little more space for lyrics that have a similarity to Eugene Hütz’s snotty vocal intonation. Very cool release. Reno’s Slovenly Recordings has picked up the band and already released another 7” single as well as their debut self-titled LP, if you’re hungry for more. ANGEL FACE is not to be missed!

Angel Face Take Me Back / Night and Day 7″

From Tokyo supergroup ANGEL FACE, “Take Me Back”/”Night and Day” is a classic one-two rock punch. With Fink (TEENGENERATE, RAYDIOS) and Toyozo (FADEAWAYS) handling the strings, the band’s impressive pedigree sets expectations high, and this tight single rises to the occasion. The A-side is an awesome upbeat pop-punker with a sickly-sweet hook; the kind of tune that does that neat trick of making heartbreak seem kind of fun. On the B-side, “Night and Day” comes in sounding like it’s about to be a cover of “Detroit Rock City” before breaking into a formidably infectious boogie complete with sing-along chorus. Flip it over and over and over and over.

Fretbuzz Nothing is Just Nothing / It’s So Hard 7″

My comparisons will draw some very solid lines as to whether you want to grab this: stir in some modern MOVING TARGETS + FEELIES + GIN BLOSSOMS + later 2024-era SOUL ASYLUM, pleasant-sounding indie rock, and you get the picture. These FRETBUZZ songs hover in a cloudy space where if they actually had some fret buzzing going on, or pushed a little harder in any direction, it would stand out more. Look, at the end of the day, this is a great single that hits on power pop in the ’90s Midwestern style and has all the right points of a good record. The flipside “It’s So Hard” is a bit more driving, but still not speeding through any school zones.