The Smashing Times are back, and if “Mrs. Ladyships and the Cleanerhouse Boys” doesn’t become your new favovrite, then you’re missing out on one of the freshest slices of MOD-infused indie pop this year. With a nod to Merseybeat and a wink to 60s revivalism, the Baltimore band delivers a jangly, shimmering sound that’s impossible to ignore.
Baltimore band The Smashing Times’ name and the title of their album doesn’t clue you in that they are extreme Anglophiles of a very specific variety, then the music should. With it’s jangly guitars, twee melodies, reverby DIY production, and faux British accents, “Mrs Ladyships and the Cleanerhouse Boys” just oozes Carnaby Street, Beatles knockoffs, Village Green-era Kinks, Television Personalities (and Dan Treacy’s Whaam Records), Martin Newell’s Cleaners From Venus, pre-MBV Creation Records, ascots, and other UK signifiers. Decidedly mellow, The Smashing Times don’t go as far with the schtick as Mick Trouble, and neither are their songs as immediately hooky, but if you’ve read this far into this short review, I predict that A) you’re gonna like this, and B) you’ve already hit play.
The Smashing Times are a mainstay in the indie pop underground. The group mistrals the new modern life perfectly, the sharper world.
“Of course there are those, that this sound will be too ‘out there’ for. For such sorts there are an absolute plethora of The Byrds YouTube videos to feast your eyes upon.”
The Fat Angel Sings 