SSM – SSM LP

"From their absurd blacklight sci-fi album art to their acronymous band name (ELP, anyone?), (John) Szymanski, (Dave) Shettler and (Keith) Morris are a supergroup thoroughly conscious of their status as such. Everything about this self-titled debut is bigger and more exaggerated than the sum of SSM's parts, right down to epic nine-minute closing jam "The Seer." But what keeps this power trio from descending into bloated self-parody is the ability of each member to take the modi operandi of their more well-established "day jobs," and coax them into exciting new directions. Sure, the Farfisa-driven Nuggets raunch of Szymanski's Hentchmen is all over tracks like "Exit Strategy," "Ain't Love," and "Candy Loving"; but hotwired to Cyril Lords frontman Morris' heavy guitar licks and some double-team percussion courtesy of ex-Sights drummer Shettler and the band's secret weapon, a vintage drum machine, it's a whole new beast - one which threatens to breathe some much-needed new life into that rickety bandwagon we call "Detroit garage."(...) if Brendan Benson is right and the Raconteurs' record can be considered the Rust Belt's answer to Nevermind, then SSM's debut must be Bleach: raw, ragged, crackling with potential; maybe a little too murky for its own good on occasion, but by and large a harbinger of great things to come. As for its relevance to the transitional scene from which it hails, well, this is as solid evidence as any that Detroit's garage cognoscenti need not hang up their white belts yet. Strap on your space helmets, kids: this is Garage Rock 2.0." - Zach Hoskins/Blogcritics"SSM's self-titled debut has many hallmarks of past and present Motor City garage rock, sounding at times like the love child of the MC5 and the White Stripes. Morris' unhinged, bordering-on-chaos guitar thunder is matched by Shettler's wall-of-sound drumming, with the ace in the hole coming from Szymanski's old-school, analog keyboards.

Label: Alive Records – ALIVE 0067-2
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 2006
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Tracklist

A1 Exit Strategy
A2 No Looking Back
A3 Ain't Love
B4 Sick
B5 Candy Loving
B6 2012
C7 Put Me In
C8 Worst Of Me
C9 Viking's Daughter
C10 You're Next
D11 Dinosaur
D12 The Fourth
D13 The Seer