The Van Der Rohe

Cromm Fallon and his friends are creating their own youth-oriented mod/garage scene in Vegas with their sharp looks and bands like Acton Town, the Astaires and now the Van Der Rohe. With Cromm on guitar, singer Will, surf/garage beat basher Omar and Noland (who now has left town, sadly) on bass, this quartet has made a garage monster, mixing Back From the Grave covers with equally manic originals, and influences ranging from rockabilly (Noland would sing the Cramps' "New Kind of Kick" live) to punk.

This 4 song CD/EP is low-fi, as is befitting the music, but still loud'n'powerful. The rhythm-driven "Hey" opens things up with driving guitars'n'drums, staccato stops, shrieks and a cool, Mid-Eastern sounding guitar lick. "Shake" is a primitive powerhouse that combines the MC5's "Black to Comm" with "Milk Cow Blues" for for a stompin' raver. Cromm's reverbed guitar dominates "Don't Look Back" for more of a straight-ahead 60's garage rocker, though still with some rockabilly roots, which also appear in the poppier "Dance All Night", especially in Will's highly affected vocals - maybe a bit too much echo here! But still a wild ride, with Omar giving some machine-gun fills.

These cats have been a crazed live act so I hope that they replace Noland soon (though his anarchic stage presence will be missed!) and continue to get Vegas to shake'n'dance all night!