(Ernest Jenning) www.ernestjenning.com

Perhaps two decades too late, but these scruffy-haired Noo Yawk/Joisy natives (a kaleidoscopic side project of arena-rock whore mongers Rye Coalition) would’ve been at home on Garage Sale, a revered compilation from 1985 that affectionately embraced the psychedelic freak-beat and snarling basement-stomp of misunderstood and underappreciated mid-Sixties garage bands. Similarly, the Black Hollies repeatedly devour the Nuggets, Pebbles and Boulders back catalogues like starving hippies at a hallucinogenic mushroom farm with the Sonics as house jam band. Not unlike previous stiletto-sharp, psych-punk forays, Casting Shadows is rife with obvious Beatle boot-licking alongside nods to ‘60s trailblazers Chocolate Watchband and the Creation and like-minded ‘80s impressionists the Chesterfield Kings and Fuzztones. From the opening Cream-inspired, acid-blues salvo of “Whispers Beneath The Willows” through the primal fuzz-tone snarl of ”If You Won’t Let Go” to the jungle-thumping Bo Diddley-esque beat of “Running Through My Mind,” the Black Hollies resurrect an extinct caveman grunt from the dinosaur graveyard.

Standout Tracks: “Whispers Beneath The Willows,” “Running Through My Mind” RON BALLY