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Here’s to lo-fi recordings with an unapologetically heavy mix of guitar—and then plenty of shouting to top the whole thing off. Grenades in the Archives’ “Tokyo” EP is only seven minutes long, and it wastes no time in letting you know what its about. The digital era has led to a massive shift in what artists are pushing out—it seems even the edgier stuff out there gets curbed for softer iPod listens. Well Grenades in the Archives never even makes a pass at being delicate. It’s the same loud guitar-drum-vocal mix you heard from bands back in high school, when the closest thing to a studio was a basement. That’s what so likable about “Tokyo.” It’s abides by that old school logic that anything’s possible with a loud enough amplifier. Grenades in the Archives is what the 3-piece rock act has always aimed to be—the talent itself might be refined, but that garage band mentality is still alive and well here.
