Ex Hex: Rips
We’re supposed to be talking best albums, but let’s talk about this band live we saw Ex Hex back at Field Day holy hotshit guitar rock, Batman! We’ve never seen a band have so much fun on stage, and with only the “Hold and Cold” single to their name earlier in the year when I first heard this band, But then Rips hit the record store and all of the energy and excitement that we saw in this band was pumping through our speakers, only this time more guitars, more harmonies — In fact more guitar monies! It was a rock n’ roll miracle time and earned Rips a spot in my heavy rotation on the Ipod. Spearheaded by indie vet and certified guitar-goddess Mary Timony, Rips is bubblegum-punk as objet d’art, a glitzy, glamorous take on the alienation inherent in the best power-pop.
Ex Hex make some of the most endlessly repeat-listenable should-be-hits of recent years. From the hurtling clang of Beast; to How You Got That Girl’s gleaming, twirling chorus; to New Kid, with its whiplashing pickslides and turbo-booster solo – these songs will be echoing in your ears long after Rips’ lean, mean 35 mins are over, and very welcome they will be there, too.” Ex Hex, the strutty, glammy trio fronted by indie rock vet Mary Timony, made for fans of their style of late-’70s riffy powerpop,
The Fat Angel Sings 