Lack of Communication by The Von Bondies

Lack of Communication, the Von Bondies' 2001 debut, came out on Sympathy for the Record Industry with Jack White of the White Stripes producing, and he'd already had the Detroit band opening shows for his own. Jason Stollsteimer sings and plays guitar alongside Marcie Bolen, with Carrie Smith on bass and Don Blum on drums, and the core of it is straight Motor City garage racket, "It Came From Japan" included.

It wanders further than you'd expect, though. "No Sugar Mama" struts like a jazzy show tune, "Shallow Grave" and "Nite Train" break into surf-guitar runs between the pounding and the graveyard gloom, and "Cass and Henry" is a hushed, half-spoken tale of meeting a tall stranger after dark. "In the Act" and "Sound of Terror" slow right down under moaning slide guitar, and after a silence Bolen steps up to sing Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me" as a hidden track.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.