Bloggerhythms

Research Turtles are back with a new EP, the independently produced Mankiller, Part 1 of 2 . It's a brief 15:38 set of music that shows off the Louisiana quartet's growing pop sensibilities while still taking advantage of their natural inclination to rock hard. They can write melodies and shatter windows at the same time. The short "Girl Like You" is mostly an acapella track with pleasant vocals and gentle acoustic guitar. It completes its job in just 1:13. "Bugs In A Jar" is a very nice ballad made for radio and "You Are So" is catchy pop-rock with some clever electric guitar licks. The band kicks things up a notch on the boisterous title track and then closes the disc out with the rampaging "Rhinestone Gal." Bassist-singer Jud Norman wrote all of the songs on their debut but this time around credit is shared with guitarist-vocalist Logan Fontenot, drummer Blake Thibodeaux, and newcomer Joseph Darbonne who replaced Jud's bro...

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 ...