Bikes – III – New LP

BIKES s/t LP (SNATCH093)
new album by Berlin's stallions of jamming at the gas station - with a blowout facing no service the next two days. Totally stripped down, early 70´s rock in the ridiculously enough tiny parking lot between NATURAL CHILD and ROLLING STONES. In a matter of course, it's the perfect album to live the moment of now. How much mototard smoke can you take at the station? Ten songs, all dry as the atacama desert, no fuzz, no thrills, no cocktail umbrellas and of course no buttons at the jacket. You just want to get time-trapped in this perpetual motion BIKES groove. Since years the Berliners say the BIKES are a nuke. Forbidden to take off, stone cold outside. Everyone is partying hard their secret hidden powers and their proximity of short-lived stardom and armageddon. So, this s/t album # III and third release n ALIEN SNATCH! REC. Recorded analog on a four track tape with Nene Barrato, first press on 180g black vinyl. How many BIKES albums fit in a nuke shell?

The Berlin supergroup features members of Acid Baby Jesus, Hellshovel, Die ersten Menschen, Demon's Claws and Modern Pets and produces mesmerizing garage rock, „somewhere in between the entrance music to a boxing match of the carnival class, a mind-altering mushroom pan and a boozer's diary entries set to music“ (Moloko Plus).

RAZORCAKE.ORG #113 (USA) Nov 2019 Berlin `60s garage rock'n'roll served Iggy Stlye; punk roots. Simplistic, melodic, and sassy. What I loved best? The clean unscathed, skilled guitar with no distortion. No frills and cheap thrills, like old day pizza and cold cheap beer. Fucking Rockers. (CR)

bigtakeover.com #85 (USA) Sep 2019 Playing bluesy rock ’n’ roll with the kind of loose swagger owned by Keith Richards, Berlin’s Bikes display an utter lack of interest in 21st century music on their third self-titled album. With their greasy riffs and bare-bones production, tunes such as “Apple Song,” “Let It Go,” and “Killing Time” sound like they’re beamed in from another dimension. Not because they come across as otherworldly, mind you, but simply because they sound like the product of musicians who are genuinely unaware of the existence of punk, hip-hop, EDM, or anything past 1972. Not exactly fresh, but fun if you’re into it. (JR)

digitfanzine.chez.com On attaque fort avec le troisième LP de BIKES, sobrement intitulé III. Les Berlinois enfoncent le même clou rouillé dans leurs veines dilatées, mêlant garage, ROLLING STONES et VELVET, en une sorte de boogie neurasthénique, survolé par des voix à la BLACK LIPS envapés...

BEAT IN MY BONES About three years ago I wrote about BIKES. I went on about how I love their rugged Garage Rock sound, and how they just moved me with their sound. A few years later, I’m happy to be writing about their new (okay, it came out in April…) record. A record that is effortlessly cool, and firmly cements my love for this exceptional Berlin band. This record is not short of powerful and raucous moments that you just cannot get enough of. Ten songs make up this record, and it just below the half hour mark. But as someone with a bit of a crappy attention span- it works just fine! Sure I want the record to go on forever, but what they’ve created with this record is something that you have on repeat all the time. I adore everything they offer up on this record. I love how the sound is slightly more refined now, but at the same time it is still raw. With no apologies (and why should they anyway!?) BIKES give you songs that hit you in the gut. There’s something about this record that has more boldness to it, and the song Friday Night was made to be played whilst alone, and bored. Just to get some feeling out, you know? It’s got a bit of a Bluesy feel to it, and I really love how they’ve taken this early sound that The Rolling Stones had, but dug really deep into the lyrics with it. It’s one of my favourites on the record and will probably be the one I gravitate to the most. Something else I love about this record is that it has been put out via Alien Snatch! Records. They’re the best at what they do, so it is no surprise that they got their hands on this record and put it out. It’s the label that will cause me to be endlessly broke, but it’s fine! This is the kind of record that ruin your speakers to. You can’t help but play it super loud, that’s the only way to listen to a band like BIKES. You’ve just got to really push yourself with how loud you (and your neighbours) hear this record. It’s a wild record, and these songs are just a glimpse into how phenomenal the band are. Go back and listen to their records, and you’ll hear that this is a band that are focused and aren’t afraid to push themselves, and their fans/anyone who listens to this record. There’s a relaxed feel to this record, and it kind of makes you feel that the best way to play this is without anyone else around you. Sometimes you need that, and records like this are perfect to do it to. All you can do is play it loud and sing along as loud as you can. All the best records make you feel this way, and BIKES most certainly give you that feeling. This record has hints of The Gruesomes and The Rolling Stones in it, and that’s nothing short of an excellent mix. There’s a real Rock ‘n’ Roll feel, and the rawness of Garage Rock. Everything I adore about music is in this record, and in BIKES. They are a band that once you listen to, you’re just hooked for eternity. If the inside of your head feels like a warzone at times, then this record will soothe it slightly. Or that’s just my personal take. I could have this record on repeat and feel alright, which is strange but always needed. This is definitely one of the best records we’ll hear this year; it’s got everything you could possibly want from a record. And if you’re someone who likes the odd catchy bop or two, then you’ll find them for sure on this record. Play it loud, block out everything around you and maybe, play it a little louder. PS: Can someone PLEASE book these guys on a UK tour (specifically Manchester)

STILINROCK.COM (FRANCE) la musique que l'on écoute pendant que les saucisses suintent sur le barbecue Il y a les groupes qui font compliqués, et ceux qui font simple. Les seconds sont toujours meilleurs. Le must ? Lorsqu'un groupe introduit un nouveau genre et rend son existence comme... évidente. Mais sans parler de ces rares occurences, je me félicite toujours de trouver un groupe qui ne cache pas ses intentions. C'est le cas avec BIKES. Le groupe, originaire de Berlin, se revendique des Rolling Stones et de Natural Child. Granted, il y a un peu du Rolling Stones des débuts, lorsqu'ils étaient bluesy, mais ça s'arrête là. BIKES est en réalité bien plus sudiste qu'il n'est british. Ses morceaux font de grosses boucles de blues-rock qui plairont à tous les papas de Terre. Les mamans trébucheront devant les chapeaux de cowboys, et quant aux hipsters, ils se régaleront de la voix bien nasillarde qui rappelle effectivement la scène Burger. N'est-ce pas le parfait combo ? C'est assurément le combo du printemps 2019 ! Et pour cause, avec BIKES, on embarque en plein dans l'Amérique de Martin Parr. Toutes les femmes portent des bigoudis, les hommes ont le gros bide des litres de bière et les jeunots se baladent dans leur pick-up, une casquette carrée et des chemises à carreaux sur le dos. Quoi, les BIKES seraient de Berlin ? Quedal, c'est fake news, ça ! Je ne suis pas certain à ce stade que tous les titres de cet album méritent une critique singulière. Et pour cause, ils se ressemblent. Les BIKES semblent véritablement avoir voulu créer un album pour soirées barbecue, une bande-son à jouer en fond pendant que les saucisses suintent sur le grill. "Summer Of '68" suffit à s'en convaincre, n'est-ce pas? Le son de la guitare, un peu crunchy comme le montre "Apple Song", vient rajouter dans le côté vintage du cover band qui joue dans la salle des fêtes de son village redneck. Mais finalement, c'est lorsque BIKES est le plus nasillard qu'il est le meilleur, preuve en est avec "Friday Night". Les Natural Child ne sont alors pas loin et l'on se souvient qu'avant que le garage et le punk et le rock psyché n'emportent tout, le blues était à la mode. Sur "Tarantula", BIKES se rapproche de ce qu'il fait de mieux : être un groupe ironico-bluesy. Et "Let It Go" de porter l'estocade redneck. La saucisse est cuite.Au final, BIKES ne crée aucune surprise, si ce n'est celle d'avoir osé un album de blues rock dans un milieu cool berlinois, sur un label cool (la maison de Pale Lips) et dans une époque cool. Je le soupçonne d'être ironique pour cette raison, mais en réalité, je n'en sais rien. L'album me plait au troisième degré, surtout, il me plait avec mon barbecue.

ox-fanzine.com #145 August 2019 Die Band mit dem ungooglebaren Namen scheint mit ihrem dritten Album nun vollends das Erbe von NATURAL CHILD angetreten zu haben – ihr latent schluffi - ger Maurer-Beat aus dem COUNT FIVE-Basement ist kontinuierlich einem bouncy, unverkrampft aus der Bootcut-Jeans geschütteltem Bluesrock nach 73er Stones-Bauart gewichen. Grobkörnig zurechtgemörserte Beats tragen kernige Fernfahrer- Rhapsodien, die in ihrer Dahingeschmissenheit ganz grandios sind. Zehn aufs Wesentliche reduzierte Songs werden in weniger als dreißig Minuten abgefrühstückt und bilden den Rahmen für eine Roadtrip- Prosa, die Zeit und Raum für ausreichend Pit Stops lässt, in denen ein paar Selbstgedrehte angesteckt werden. FLAMIN’ GROOVIES, NERVOUS EATERS, REAL KIDS und „Bonehead Crunchers“- No-Hit-Wonders sind hierbei Gradmesser für die Nonchalance, mit der die Boogie-Licks und salopp genölten Vocals sich zu virulenten „Have a real good time“-Hooks formieren. BIKES bürgen mit diesem Album für hundertprozentigen „No Bullshit“-Rock’n’Roll, den man glücklicherweise nie auf einer großen Bühne sehen wird, dafür aber bei den Gerüstbau-Jungs, die diese betreuen, umso größeren Anklang finden kann. [MB 9/10]