The Hentchmen - Broad Appeal (1997)

My first true love for music was the raunchy sounds of garage rock. Detroit provided a plethora of groups producing the genre and so I quickly assembled a modest collection of it. This did create some crazy ideas about what modern music was like until I got a few more years under my belt, but I'm far from outside of garage rock's allure. Replaying the Hentchmen reminds me much of my days spend in my parents' basement with speakers pouring out lo-fi guitar and drum noises accompanied by an organ sounds. These fellas are still at it over a decade after starting, but regardless of how one feels about bands that keep after it, their albums from the mid-90s are undeniably representative of southeast Michigan's garage rockers. The songs aren't deep yet they are complaining/praising of Michigan herself, about what matters to young men of the wolverine state, girls and cars. The vocals are, in accordance with Detroit garage, raw and feel almost unpracticed. Together with decidedly unvarnished musicianship there is a definite do-it-yourself attitude to the entire release. However, singing isn't even found on every track, the instrumental tune hold a special play in the Hentchmen's more surf rock tinged style of the genre. Embodiments of Detroit's 90s and first few years following, these gentlemen were amazingly (disputably thankfully) not part bands swept onto larger labels following the explosion of the White Stripes onto the national stage. Detroit's musicians still feel the burn of the proximity to success when they blazed after the Stripes' only to find out that the not everywhere in embraced garage rock as whole-heartedly as their hometown. I hope you'll appreciate this Broad Appeal for what it is, something along the lines of folksongs for an industrialized city.

To be had here:
The Hentchmen - Broad Appeal [160 kbps]