LimeWire Music Blog

Start a pop-punk band that actually rocks, and if you’re good enough, you may hear some Replacements comparisons. Add some killer hooks and startlingly astute pop songcraft to the mix, and all of a sudden you’re the reincarnation of Cheap Trick. And if your band also happens to be fronted by a woman, now you’re Heart, Pat Benatar, and The Runaways all in one. This is precisely the kind of critical praise that has been swirling around Message to Garcia, the latest full-length from Seattle’s Visqueen. Frontwoman Rachel Flotard doesn’t just have clear-as-a-bell, loud-as-all-hell pipes; she also has a knack for chugging guitar riffs and a sterling list of collaborators, including vocal contributions from her pal Neko Case and steel guitar from the amazing Jon Rauhouse. Conceived as a “rock and roll epitaph” for Flotard’s late father, Message to Garcia’s 11 songs roll by fast and sweet, but with sharp edges most definitely intact. The organ on “Fight For Love” is an inspired choice, as is the interplay between Flotard’s Go-Go’s/Kim Wilde guitar riff and Rauhouse’s pedal-steel flourishes on “Beautiful Amnesia.” Along with the piano-centric ballad/elegy “So Long,” this trio of songs form the album’s white-hot molten core (or, in the case of “So Long” itself, the creamy center). This is, without a doubt, a contender for the year’s best rock album.