by John Brouk
Although there are still two months and lots of great releases yet to come, this is the time of year to start looking back and see what albums stood out over the last twelve months. One such album is Prehistoric Chrome, released this past May by the Australian lo-fi garage punk rockers GEE TEE. Coming little more than a year after their acclaimed Goodnight Neanderthal, Prehistoric Chrome is the outfit’s latest, and longest release to date, with eighteen tracks spanning across 26 minutes. Don’t let that short runtime fool you, every song is a full-on tire-squealing, rubber-burning energetic punk rock drag race. With fully realized songs as short as these, it makes you wonder why any song needs to be longer than two minutes. If this blistering round of firecrackin’ garage poppers were any longer, the listener’s heart would likely explode!
Australia seems to be a hotbed for wild and zany musical acts that have a gritty raw edge to them, as apparent by Aussie stalwarts like punk royalty Amyl & The Sniffers, psych rock oddballs King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and Ishka Edmeades’ own Tee Vee Repairmann. True to their country (and continent) of origin, GEE TEE definitely isn’t afraid to fly their freak flag. The album cover for Prehistoric Chrome is a surrealist collage that depicts a caveman lounging in a vintage pistachio green bathtub while being serenaded by an alien-looking individual that all the while is menacingly watched by a pair of red-ringed eyes in the mirror. Like this crazy cover art, the songs it represents pay homage to the punk of decades past and aren't afraid to get a little goofy while doing it.
Most tracks are characterized by the sound of Coachwhips-esque demonic goblin-like lead vocals shouted over grizzly guitar, break-neck paced drumming, and toy organ tones that sound like something from Mario Kart. Everything is treated with a lo-fi trebly condensed crackle that makes it seem like you are uncovering the artifacts of some ancient caveman punk rock music scene. Like those patron saints of punk rock, the Ramones, these tracks are punk, but they also are melodic, poppy, and catchy as hell. It’s like if fake bubblegum pop cartoon band the Archies got into hot rods, started smoking, and got bicep tattoos.
Besides the album’s title, there are allusions to early man sprinkled throughout the album on tracks like “Bedrock,” “Stone Age,” and “BC Technology,” each scratching that animalistic, primitive itch for something raw, rhythmic, and catchy. It’s something you could club a mammoth to, for sure! Goofy and playful lyricism on songs like “Workin 4 the FBI” and “Couch Potato” put GEE TEE in the realm of bands like the Dead Milkman or modern egg punks Snõõper.
Since each frantically rollicking bop is succeeded by another, it can be hard to pick any favorites. It’s best to listen to the whole distorted, disorientating beauty all at once. Preferably while behind the wheel of a customized hot rod with a skull mounted to the front bumper, as you race through a desolate, desert wasteland.