New Jersey Stage Issue 60 | Page 56

SHARE BUTTON Makin Waves by Bob Makin Record Roundup with The Vaughns, Frank Lombardi, and Stella Mrowicki Like Nirvana, The Vaughns are exceptional at mixing gnarly grun- ge and delicious indie pop. In the wake of two EPs, they’ve never done it better than on their debut full-length, “FOMO,” which they wisely left into the crafty hands of The Front Bottoms bassist Erik Kase Romero, who’s also pro- duced Deal Casino, Well Wisher, Sonic Blume and many others. NJ STAGE - ISSUE 60 The 11-song collection opens with the surf-adelic instrumental “Learning to Surf” and then con- tinues a surf theme with “Kow- abunga,” a funny dis of Baltimore, which is compared to hell (I guess The Vaughns don’t care if they play there again). Fueled by ’60s- style psychedelic guitar a la The Yardbirds and early The Who, the entertaining tune alternates be- INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 56