These days ‘Don’t Wanna Dance Because I’m Told To‘, the debut album from Berlin-based band The Roxies has been on high rotation around here. Over 11 tracks the quartet takes its cue from a variety of sounds and influences like garage rock, post-punk, and powerpop, and what comes out is a solid punk record. The Roxies are comprised of vocalist Matthew Conway who is from the UK, Bruno Werner on guitar, Imke Wagener on bass and vocals, and Tim Müller-Heidelberg on drums,
Opener ‘Underdog‘ is an absolute banger that blasts out of the gate with sneering Buzzcocks fervor, propelled by crunchy guitars playing a killer hook. It’s one of my favorite songs of the year early on. ‘Scapegoat‘ manages to successfully pair angular guitars and a B52s vibe with a grungey chorus while ‘Down‘ jangles like vintage Cracker. There’s also straight-ahead garage rock with ‘Beat on the Street‘, ‘Bad Parenting‘, and ‘Catcaller‘ and ‘Flimriss‘ bops with a hint of dance-punk. The album finishes off with a trio of power pop numbers ‘Lovedrunk‘ and ‘Stereo‘, ‘Adolecent Depression‘ followed up by the dirge of ‘Blue‘.
‘Don’t Wanna Dance Because I’m Told To‘ is a co-release by Family Spree Recordings (Spain) and Dirt Cult (USA).
