Black Bananas

Royal Trux have always paid heavy homage to '70s-era Rolling Stones, doing what the Cramps did for rockabilly and Jon Spencer did for the blues, but it's disco-era Stones being summoned here. Black Bananas are basically RTX, the often-lacklustre successor to Royal Trux, rebranded and re-energised. Jennifer Herrema's sassy vocals ride over bass lines so raunchy you can't help but be reminded that rock music was once feared as a conspiracy to corrupt the youth. Dirge-y, funky, deliciously lo-fi and damn sexy, Rad Times Xpress IV is worthy of comparisons to Royal Trux in their heyday. A great record, with enough swagger and funk to offset the sporadic outbursts of hair metal shredding ― is it ironic? Who cares! After a decade or so of synth fetishism in indie rock, will Black Bananas bring back unselfconscious rocking out? Who can say, but you'd better start painting that logo on your leather jacket, just in case.