The Blind Shake “Seriousness” 2011. Learning Curve Records, red vinyl. The Blind Shake are a 3-piece garage-punk surf guitar whirlwind of fury out of Minneapolis. They released their debut album in 2005; Seriousness is their fifth release. The band has played around Milwaukee a few times, including a show at Frank’s Power Plant (basically just down the street from us) in 2014 that resulted in a cassette-only live recording and an in-store performance at Acme Records (also in our Bay View neighborhood) in 2015.

The tracks on Seriousness range from hurricane-strength and speed (like on the aptly titled “Hurracan,” which also showcases their surf-guitar prowess, and the utterly insane “Sold My Beatle A”) to ton-of-bricks-head-banging heavy (“Busy Body” and my favorite song on the album, “I’m Not An Animal”), all without a bass player. According to Allmusic “the bandmembers insist that they’re not anti-bass so much as they’re ‘pro mid-range.’”