Sugar Tradition - More Sugar EP (2023) Hi-Re

Detroit once again lives up to its name as Garage Rock City. Obviously, Rock ‘n’ roll trio Sugar Tradition was already on our radar (they released Green Machine in 2019 and Sugar Shack in 2021), but on their new mini-album More Sugar they rise above themselves. We get the familiar raw and fuzzed-out mix of garage punk, psych rock and rhythm ‘n’ blues, but on these six fresh songs Antonio Keka (guitar, vocals, harmonica, tambourine), Arlo Betley (bass, backing vocals) and Kevin Irwin (drums, piano, tambourine, backing vocals) groove like never before. Recorded live, and you feel it. Raucous and infectious. Including a cover that makes Chuck Berry’s Come On even hotter. It doesn’t get more exciting than this. More sugar? More pepper!

Sugar Tradition have managed to capture that raw, driving Motor City sound in damn near perfect form on 'More Sugar', their vinyl debut on Feel It Records. "Rockin' Baby" kicks things into gear, anchored by a driving piano line that plays off a pounding rhythm section, allowing Keka's guitar and vocals to rule the high end of the mix. There's some tasteful harmonica and tambourine peppered throughout, but it's the raw, fuzzed-out sonics heard best on "Don't Leave Me" that may just steal the show. Oh yeah, did we mention the roaring rendition of Chuck Berry's "Come On"? It's all recorded live, too. A stupendous fourteen minutes at 45 RPM. Sugar Tradition are one of the brightest sets of young heads on the face of planet rock'n'roll right now, and 'More Sugar' proves that to a tee.