THe TRACKs

Treasured Memories 6/10

A 21st-century band from East LA

Formed by Venancio ‘Benny’ Bermudez and three friends in the Boyle Heights section of East la, The Tracks don’t make the kind of music you might expect from offspring of the city’s undocumented immigrants. The band’s debut album is a dynamic hybrid of Nuggets-era garage rock, ’80s new wave and Strokes-like metronomics, with Bermudez’s keening tenor demanding attention. His full-throttle intensity on songs like “Go Out Tonight” and “Hustle” evokes the young Bono, while, on “Strange Moments” and “Hanging On”, he emotes with the hyper-sensitivity of Morrissey. Bermudez’s histrionics become exhausting over the course of the album; when he learns self-control, this promising band will be a force to be reckoned with.