CYNICS, THE: Spinning Wheel Motel: CD

Could totally be my memory doing weird shit again, or this could very well be a different band, but I seem to recall these guys being a smidge more on the harder edge of the garage rock spectrum. What’s here is definitely steeped in garage rock, but it also has a heavy dollop of ‘80s sensibility to it, making it sound more akin to the janglier side of REM (aided in no small part by the nasal quality of the singer’s voice) and Slash’s stable of mid-decade alt-rock darlings than the Wailers or the Sonics. They’re quite good at what they do, don’t get me wrong, and the songwriting is top-tier, but it was a bit of a surprise nonetheless.

 –jimmy (Get Hip)