Come on, Get Happy

There's something going on in the Rust Belt besides auto-industry layoffs. Along with bands such as the White Stripes and the Greenhornes, the Come Ons are part of a garage-rock revival that has crept slowly across the nation, building speed like an old Camaro. Unlike the more punky Stripes, the Come Ons blend many old techniques into a new sound, using Hammond organ, tambourine, handclaps, Deanne Iovan's vocals, and 1960s girl-group lyrics to conjure its retro-modern sound. Combining Motown, proto-punk, and pure Detroit rock, the Come Ons manage to produce an amalgam of everything that is right and good about Motor City (read: no Ted Nugent), as its two recent albums reveal.