REVIEW: Smock, "Interstellar Nobdy" [EP]

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: EP

Date Released: June 15, 2018

Label: Independent

Smock harnesses the darkest corners of retro rock, riding on surf guitar lines, fuzzed out bass, tight as fuck drum fills, and the often sweet but occasionally sinister vocals of Jenne Benicaso.

“Interstellar Nobody” DD track listing

1. Interstellar Nobody

2. Weird One

3. High Life

4. Bleach

The Review:

Maybe it’s the heat.  Maybe it’s the relentless humidity.  Maybe it’s that godawful haze that hangs over the industrial skyline.  But for me, this summer has been punctuated by tripped out psychedelic, punky, metallic garage rock weirdness.  In the same way that black metal treks through frozen tundra feels most effective after the truly bitter January chill has set in, the slick, sweaty, kind of nauseating midsummer swelter makes me feel like around every corner there could be a freakish Robert Crumb caricature or a roving pack of S. Clay Wilson pirate-bikers primed to bash my face with a bottle.  And there are few records as appropriate for these paranoid delusions as “Interstellar Nobody”, the debut EP by NJ’s own Smock.

A lot of neo-psych lays the flower power bullshit on thick, missing the speed-addled discomfort inherent in a lot of the best shit that influenced a generation of Pebbles and Nuggets listeners.  I mean, sure, the blissful Eastern mystic stuff has its place, but does it rock?  Not hardly.  Thankfully, Smock harnesses the darkest corners of retro rock, riding on surf guitar lines, fuzzed out bass, tight as fuck drum fills, and the often sweet but occasionally sinister vocals of Jenne Benicaso.  When, on closer “Bleach”, he croons “You know it. / I’ll wait, I’ll wait / I’m still waiting for you…” there’s something a bit unsavory, especially layered with reverb and over a krautrock progression their forebears from Neu! would be proud of.

The title track on is a sweet slice of doomy stoner rock that reminded me of the most promising tracks by Uncle Acid, but unlike the steadily midtempo jams of the English post-Wizard class, Smocklaunches into faster garage punk on “Weird One”.  The warbling, trebly high end guitar work of Benicaso and Zach Inkley is deftly balanced by Cameron Smith’s hefty bass tones, and the steady rhythms (courtesy of Dee Morris) makes “Weird One” the type of banger someone could (gasp!) maybe bop along to.  “High Life”, the fastest song on the EP, is also the most neurotic.  Benicaso’s hallucinatory narrations – “Sun becomes the sky / The Mud turns into the clay / The kingdom crumbles down / Are you listening” – are eerie but strangely beautiful.

“Bleach”, the aforementioned krautrock-indebted closer, is really a marvel and a testament to how promising this quartet is.  The opening buildup feels like the classic live-in-studio cuts of the garage greats Smock draws from, but organic, in this case, doesn’t mean low quality.  Both guitars are balanced in the mix, the bass has a solid presence, and Benicaso’s vocals maintain that distance in the mix that more rock bands need to aspire to.  The guitar harmonies are really lovely too, and manage to sound heavy without sounding like atonal noise.  It’s the rare record that drew me in more the further I went, and left me aching for the next (hopefully full length) release.  And while it’s the perfect jam for my summer, I’d be happy to spin these tracks any time of year.

“Interstellar Nobody”is available at here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook