Rexxx “Pure Pleasure II” 2020. Party punk power pop from one of my favorite Milwaukee “super-groups.” Self-released on cassette, though now available on vinyl from Big Neck Records (which we might have but I’m focusing on local cassette releases this week). Any Milwaukee band that includes Sam Reitman (Slow Walker, Surgeons In Heat, Ramma Lamma, many others) in its lineup will automatically catch my attention so Rexxx has been on our radar since they formed a couple of years ago. Also in Rexxx are Zach Otto and Harrison Colby (Sex Scenes) and Jesse Buskov (King Eye & The Squirts, another local favorite). It’s super-fun on the edge of bubblegum, high energy rock and an absolute blast live. We saw them sometime in 2019 and/or the record release in early 2020 (it’s blurry) and, more recently, this past August at the WMSE Backyard BBQ (which is almost quite literally in our own backyard). Here’s a couple of photos from that show.

Pure Pleasure II – misleading a bit because it’s their first album – is a short ‘n sweet burst of, yes, pure pleasure. A crowd favorite, and one of mine, is the first track “Can’t Help It” which reminds me a lot of old-school power poppers Buzzcocks’ “What Do I Get?” but with a bit more growl. Also great are “Lost Cause” (such great harmonies and Sam’s bassline melody riff), the excellently named “Fuccboii,” the crashing “Rock n Roll” and the power pop ripper “Animal.”