Boss Martians – Making the Rounds – Review

Boss Martians

Making the Rounds (MuSick)
by Grady Gadbow

Something about this stuff reminds me of Elvis Costello but I’m not sure why. It must be the way the vocals come in loud and clear on the first beat of a riff with fairly elaborate lyrics. Maybe it’s that Hammond organ holding the main chord progressions down in the background, but you hear a lot of that these days without necessarily being reminded of Elvis Costello.

Power pop indeed. Most of the songs are of the sure-fire rock variety, complete with many repeated choruses to make sure catchy little buggers have a good grip. Some of the lyrics are good enough to have echoing around your skull for a little while, but if you get “Dreaming in Stereo” stuck in your head, you’re fucked. Imagine what a nance you’ll look like when you go to work and sing “You got me dreaming oh-oh! You got me dreaming in stereo!” While all the other long-shoremen do a faggy little dance behind your back.

The closing track, “Every Girl in Town,” is pretty smokin’. Solid Egg Studios production quality pays off especially well here, and I dig the arrangement.

Most of the songs are about girls and most of them have bass lines making little major-scale staircases between four chords, and nice guitar that makes occasional snarling noises. “AMX” has a funny fake AC/DC intro that gives you four bars to make up your own fake Bon Scott lyrics like, “Oi!” and, “all right!” Ah… good times.
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