The Cliks
Snakehouse
(Warner)
Snakehouse tries to take rock to a more primitive time. Lots of crunch and pulsating beats that recall the days before every rock band began to sound like either shitty metal (Nickelback) or punk-pop (Green Day). The sound owes a lot to Chrissie Hynde and the classic first two Pretenders records. But it’s a Pretenders with Jack White instead of James Honeyman-Scott. The Cliks have a blistering cover of “Cry Me River” and leader Lucas Silveira has penned his fair share of catchy rockers. With Moe Berg on the knobs, the record has a tight sound that will hopefully overshadow the hype about Silveira being a transgendered FTM.
Trevor MacLaren