If you ask me, there are two ways to use the lo-fi aesthetic as a tool: you can use it to mask your shitty songwriting and/or musical skills, or you can use it as an instrument all its own, rendering the song(s) in question more interesting and compelling for it. I’m not gonna name names of artists that I think are guilty of doing the former. But for examples of the latter, see Bass Drum of Death, the grittier projects of Ty Segall, The Migs (RIP), or Boston’s Miami Doritos.

Miami Doritos’ Scoop Dreams is an example of garage rock gone right: crunchy riffs, sinister little guitar lines that sneak in right where they belong, and songs that don’t follow any type of formula. The album wisely begins with one of its strongest tracks, “Ice Age Cream”, whose beginning guitar-drum riff will probably be stuck in my head for days. As will that of “Beat Trunk.” Well, shit, this is a pretty solid little EP.

What’s really great about this, though, is that it’s 100% pretention-free. Dan Shea mentioned this in his recent review of the latest Nice Guys (featuring Alex of Miami Doritos) EP and I think it totally applies to this record as well—this is just some guys making music and having fun doing it, with no one to impress. And that makes it all the more fun to listen to.

Check it, stream it, and download it (fo’ free!) on below, via the Miami Doritos bandcamp.