Apes

One can't help but wonder how much a rock band can rock without a guitar player, but Washington D.C.'s Apes are out to disprove the common assumption that rock bands without guitar players are nothing more than shtick. The band's singer/organ/bass/drums lineup is capable of creating quite a racket, actually, and its recently released fifth effort, Ghost Games, ups the ante as the songs are the best of the band's decade-long existence. Deftly mixing '60s psychedelia, post-punk garage noise and an exceedingly modern slacker mentality, Ghost Games is the soundtrack to some lost sequel to Reefer Madness.

Booming, catchy and devoid of pretension, Apes moves well beyond gimmick and into a distinctive locale all its own with this disc. New vocalist Breck Brunson moans, hollers and shrieks over the cacophony created by drummer Jeff Schmid and bassist Erick Jackson. But what really adds oomph to the Apes is organist Amanda Kleinman. Her pulsing and powerful keyboard work more than makes up for a lack of axes. On songs such as "Practice Hiding" and "Beat of the Double," Kleinman pushes the boundaries, filling space like a possessed stepchild of Jerry Lee Lewis.