Say You're a Scream

Local Athens, GA, unit the Four Corners take up the mod flag in the biggest of fashions with their debut disc. Released on CD with both a stereo and mono (!!) mix, the opening chords of "Untitled Instrumental Theme #1" is what was once wonderfully feisty and immediate about the Kinks and the Jam. Period-perfect vocals by Tracey Hatch are backed up by big swatches of Farfisa organ and classic garage-worthy drumming by Ryan Lewis. On songs like "Miss Moneypenny" and "Secret Life," Neil Cleary's guitar work comes forward as the band's fuzz-faced secret weapon. With the combination of a few well-chosen covers (particularly the well-suited reworking of the Stooges' "No Fun"), and plenty of honest verve, the Four Corners follow in the fine tradition of other semi-psychedelic guitar combos of the period captured in either of Rhino Records' Nuggets sets.