It sometimes feels like it’s been written out of history, but there was a moment in the late ’80s when college rock sounded tough, marked by sharp guitars, hard drums, beefy production and a general sense of bluster. It may not have been as macho as the hard rock of the time, but it was a far cry from the ultra-sensitive indie-rock that dominates today. On their debut self-titled EP, Milwaukee rockers The Atomic Spins capture that brief window when it seemed like R.E.M. was a band that could reasonably take you in a bar fight. Nobody will mistake it for metal, but it’s got that same sense of spirited resistance that Hüsker Dü and early Soul Asylum records had.
The group released the EP earlier this month with a show at Kochanski’s. You can stream it below, Via Bandcamp.
