Pleasers “Such A Fool” / Whirlwind”

Another short form release from Matthew Melton’s latest outfit, Pleasers and its as filled with bubblegum grit as the last two. Shifted further towards the garage than his recent works as Warm Soda, the double shot has that tough bar fight bravado and a ton of ’70s smog raining down on its amplifier stacks. Though, no matter how how many pairs of fingerless leather gloves Melton buys, he can’t shake the soft edge on his voice (try as he might here) that works so well with his power pop jammers. Pleasers surely beg some wistful remembrance for Bare Wires though, or perhaps a more refined version of his band Snake Flower II. Its tough, but with heart.

As for these two tracks themselves, the A-side is the definite winner here, its got more of a brass knuckle beat down on the guitars and Melton’s really going for the roundhouse kick theatrics on the vocals. The flip is serviceable, but nowhere near the kind of jukebox gem that the A-side volleys up. This one needs to be hip-checked onto the box right before Melton smashes a bottle and goes for the slash. Though to be fair in this analogy I kinda picture him working it up like Steve Gutenberg in Police Academy 2 (yeah I’m making Police Academy references now), you know the one where Mahoney goes undercover as a thug but lays it on way too thick. In the same way that Gutenberg can’t play a street tough, somehow I’m not buying Melton’s full commitment to the life of crime/dirtbag aesthetic either… but who am I to judge. The jam is juicy and somewhere a TransAm is begging for this on the tape deck.