SSM

You know a trend has laminated its AARP card when a "supergroup" arrives. SSM features members of longtime Detroit garage-rock stalwarts the Hentchmen and the Sights. Like Asia, Damn Yankees, etc., SSM has taken the earmarks of a trend sound, wrenched them out perfectly, and rendered them pedantic in the process.

There's plenty of fuzzy guitar and primitive pounding on the band's debut, LP 1, injecting a bit of R&B butt shake. SSM then adds some scuzzy synths and fairly flaccid vocals -- which, come to think of it, was Damn Yankees' plan too. Only this is much less glossy, thanks to the fat bottom production from the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. So while at times LP 1 feels like LP 1001 of Detroit garage rock, it provides further proof that the whole Detroit thing was never just a trend, but a steady something-in-the-water flow that happened to catch a wave for a while.