Impediments

Impediments fancy themselves a group of tough trash rockers, firing off two-minute, attitude-laden fuzz-punk titbits about girls and the end of the world. While that perception is partially true, they end up sounding way more Johnny B. Goode than Johnny Rotten. While the ink on this Berkeley, CA four-piece's high school diplomas was still drying, they recorded an impressively vintage-sounding self-titled album that demonstrates not only their determination to exploit the energy and acceptable maturity level of their youth ― the album closes with a song about masturbation called "Vagina Envy" ― but an impressive grasp of the soulful early days of rock'n'roll. Pounding piano parts and doo-wop choruses combine with an obvious love of the jerky riffs and theatrics of MC5 and the Stooges to create a sound that straddles the cool divider in current indie and punk leagues. They're more promising than satisfying at this point, but the clear structure and time-signature shifting of standout track "Violence" demonstrate it's a promise Impediments could very well deliver on.