Research Turtles - Research Turtles (2009)

Research Turtles debut CD
was released in August 2009

The young quartet from Lake Charles, LA, who call themselves Research Turtles, has put the "power" back in power pop. Their ear shattering guitar riffs and instrumental breaks remind listeners of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and everybody else who ever turned the volume on their amps up to ten. The guitar assaults are mostly offset with melodic versus and choruses that scream The Beatles and Cheap Trick. The high voltage instrumental introduction to The Raspberries oldie "Go All The Way" that segues into Eric Carmen's joyously upbeat vocal is a perfect example of the Turtles' sound.

Lyrically, the guys mostly sing about girls and relationships. They're not depressing like Kurt Cobain or political like Joe Strummer. They just like reckless, take-no-prisoners rock 'n roll.

The CD's opening track, "Let's Get Carried Away" has some serious riffage and is ready made for modern rock radio. "Tomorrow" and "Into A Hole" could be from The Beatles' Revolver album. "Kiss Her Goodbye" is a power ballad that lacks the pretentiousness and false emotion most of their ilk possess and it would be wise not to imbibe Red Bull while listening to the speedy "Mission," because all by itself, the song is enough to get your adrenalin flowing. The nameless, hidden, acoustic track at the end of the disc is pleasant too and indicates that, as the band matures, they may want to add some other styles into their mix.

The group's odd name comes from a Bill Murray line in Wes Anderson's film, The Life Aquatic: "They made soup out of my research turtles."

These newcomers include brothers Jud and Joe Norman on bass and guitar respectively. The lineup is rounded out by Logan Fontenot on guitar and Blake Thibodeaux on drums. The brothers handle all vocal duties. Jud Norman wrote all of the music.

This CD is a very fine beginning to what could be a nice career. You can download the entire album at their website.