Automatic Changer

Freak, the opening track on the fifth album from Dead Ghosts, 2020s Automatic Changer, is an exercise in junkshop psychedelia overflowing with fuzz, wah-wah, reverb, and Farfisa organ that sounds like its creators were sentenced to life imprisonment inside one of the Back from the Grave compilations. If you love acid-damaged garage punk, its about as good a first salvo as you could ask for, and the rest of Automatic Changer hardly disappoints. While clearly beholden to the past, Dead Ghosts show just enough awareness of the present that their sense of history has some valid perspective, and just as importantly, they dive head first into this music with a sense of commitment that has scarcely been heard since the glory days of the Driving Stupid. Automatic Changer isnt a dramatic departure from the low-tech adventure of 2015s Love and Death & All the Rest, but the addition of Craig Pettman on keyboards is a welcome development. His retro-styled electric piano and organ sounds are a great fit for their aesthetic, as well as reinforcing their particular Wall of Sound, and guitarists Drew Wilkinson and Bryan Nicol understand the value of cheap guitars and outdated effects pedals with a zeal that puts them in league with Steve Turner and Mick Collins. Bassist Maurizio Moe Chiumento and drummer Mike Wilkinson keep things lively, and overall Dead Ghosts bring just enough of their own brand of sonic weirdness to this music to keep them a safe distance from being just another bunch of garage revivalists trying too hard to live in the past (and the steel guitar accents on the country-ish Turn It Around and Merle are a nice change of pace). If youre looking to turn on, tune in, and pass out, Automatic Changer could be just the soundtrack you need. ~ Mark Deming