Joudy may be a new name to many, but the band’s history stretches back over fifteen plus years and a change in continents. Originally called Joudy Ju and based out of Venezuela, guitarist/vocalist Diego Ramírez would eventually flee his home country due to the continued instability and political tensions, settling in New York City. When he picked things back up with Joudy, fellow Venezuelan emigres Hulrich Navas and Carlos Reywere brought into the fold and the band has continued to evolve their take on everything rock adjacent ever since. Each album has emphasized different textures, sometimes opting for a more 90s grunge and alternative rock approach while later efforts have brought in everything from post punk to heavy psych. Permanent Maintenance represents another logical shift, emphasizing more direct and louder riffing than before that brings a bit of punk and noise rock’s bite into the foundation of garage and alternative rock. It’s the type of material where its balance of gritty, darker tones and brighter flourishes feels like a perfect representation of what its members have gone through, and there’s a lot here that will stick with listeners.
2023’s Destroy All Monsters had some up-tempo moments, but much of its runtime opted for moodier and more introspective tracks that leaned heavily into hazier psychedelic tones. It had a sense of tension to its tracks through the darker atmospherics and interludes, and Permanent Maintenance retains this tension but frames it in a completely different way. What’s noticeable the first time you listen all the way through is the sense of urgency and grittiness of many of the tracks, but also the variety from song to song. In some ways it feels like Joudy has attempted to recapture some of the elements from their first two albums while pushing towards new territory, and this makes their latest effort one of the best for newcomers looking to dive into the band’s material. The appropriately named “Hammer” and “Queen” are early tracks that showcase that urgency and much denser tonality, as the former has lumbering bass lines that give off more of a noise rock and even metallic sheen while the latter takes some of that weight and injects some driving punk and garage rock into the mix. On the other end of the spectrum, “Whiskers” offers some bright spots and hints of more hopeful alternative rock while “Swans” has moodier acoustic guitar and a 90s grunge sound that explodes into some more traditional rock ‘n roll soloing. “(I Love You) Dummy” is also an album highlight, as it lurches forward with a slower bluesier approach that culminates in an explosion of noise and tense atmospherics. A few of the shorter numbers do blur together slightly for me, but the majority of Permanent Maintenance finds ways to get under your skin with darker melodies and weightier riffs.
Diego Ramírez has a voice that fits in somewhere between 90s and 2000s era alternative, and the way that his singing moves from lighter and airier pitches to more aggressive ones grabs your attention. Opener “Hammer” is a great early example, as the first minute or so has much softer and subdued singing that echoes over top of the lumbering instrumental base, but there is some backing yelling and Ramirez then pivots into a much louder and forceful tone. “Nail” is another early highlight with powerful singing and harmonized back-ups that give this huge sound, falling somewhere between anthemic alternative rock and grittier garage rock. But as with past Joudy releases, there is also a healthy dose of grunge in here as well and tracks like “Three Dollar Bill” and “Shovel” have singing that feels ripped right out of grunge’s most popular eras. Ramirez does sound a bit closer to Kurt Cobain on the latter, and while there are a few sections where things seem slightly off pitch the performance is strong as a whole. I particularly like the more subdued yet just as tense work on closer “Dear”, which finishes things off in an impactful way.
There are a few songs that blur together over repeat listens, but Permanent Maintenance remains strong from beginning to end and showcases Joudy reframing their core sound through a grittier and more urgent framework. Where its predecessor felt a bit more introspective and exploratory, this album spends a lot more time hitting listeners with denser and darker instrumentation without losing memorable hooks in the process. With a bit more punk and rougher exterior present alongside the grunge, garage, and alternative leanings of the past, Joudy continues to find the sweet spot between rock’s past and present. Permanent Maintenance is available from Trash Casual.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg