Indie Music Album Reviews

The Simple Radicals - The Optimist

2/6/2024

The Simple Radicals

The Optimist
self-released; 2023

By Matt Jensen

The Simple Radicals is a retro rock band from the great blues and rock city of Chicago, Illinois, featuring John Malkin on lead locals and rhythm guitar and John Griffin on lead guitar and vocals. Together, they capture the passion and energy of their collective musical experience, with different tastes, sounds, and styles. The music they create is pure, visceral rock n' roll - poignant, from the heart, topical and direct.

The first song I listened to was “The Optimist” was a pretty straightforward 4/4 rock tune with distorted chords, a steady beat and a robust bass line. It’s a catchy tune and has some attitude. The guitar solo sounded like it came from the ’80s and I say that as a compliment. It’s a catchy and dynamic song and got me interested in hearing what else the band had on offer.

The song “New Revolution” sounds like the title of the song. I think the band The Who captured this energy best in the late ’60s but The Simple Radicals have a more contemporary approach that felt more aligned with hard rock and alternative from the ’90s. The guitars cut through the mix like knives and reverb laced vocals sound fantastic on this hook.

“Let’s See What You Got” opens with a very familiar and popular chord progression. The band does it justice and are able to go into syncopated Queens Of The Stone Age type of energy that gets your adrenaline pumping. I also loved not only the guitar work but the tone they got for it which was more a rockabilly sound. It works really well with the music.

The catalog for The Simple Radicals goes way beyond these three songs but if you enjoy these songs I encourage you to dive deeper into their sound. There’s a lot to appreciate here. Take a listen.