It takes a deft hand and a solid ear (not to mention a rounded scoop of chutzpah) to dress up a familiar genre in new clothes. In the past few years we’ve seen Big Mess give Delta blues a doomy makeover, we’ve seen Cowboy Band bring the chaps and stirrups into the garage – there are plenty of other examples – and now Brooklyn’s Degreaser is adding a bit more grit to the all-denim getup of yesteryear’s psychedelia. This powerhouse trio has its roots deep in oldschool psych-rock: the fat bass tone, the blistering staccato guitar on the interludes, and the squelching off-kilter wah effect make you feel like you’re spacing out in the trunk of a VW Microbus (RIP) lost somewhere in the middle of a corn field. But the knick-knacks inside that beastly bus are modern, harsher: the gang vocals are eerie and edgy; slicing tritone riffage lunges at you with enough force to break a rib; the song-structures are chaotic and the bands gets its jollies stalling on high-tension chords backed with thunderous drum build-ups. And the production is the perfect package for Degreaser’s sound – fuzzed just enough to make those booming mega-chords menace just the right way, wrapping the whole ensemble in that organic single-coil buzz. “hole in my head” offers a perfect example of Degreaser’s ability to blend the old and the new: the band takes a nothing-but-punk powerchord rant and casually slides it into a Hendrix-esque chord-n-lick freakout. This psyched-up New York caravan hasn’t got any physical releases up for grabs yet, but check the tunes below and keep your peepers peeled for future releases.