TELL 'EM WHAT YOUR NAME IS!

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

Too many garage bands enthralled with '60s blues and soul tend to be either too slavish or tongue-in-cheek for their own good. Not this unhinged eight-piece from Austin, which, galvanized by strutting singer and lead guitarist Joe Lewis, walks a fine and only occasionally ironic line between those approaches.

Sure, the set-opening "Gunpowder" sports bleating horns like those that hooked the Bar-Kays' 1967 hit, "Soul Finger." And Sugarfoot," the grinding workout that follows, is goosed by a scooting undertow that recalls Archie Bell and the Drells' 1968 "Tighten Up."

But ultimately these tracks sound nothing like the records their sample-like nods evoke. Pushing their source material as far as it will go, Lewis and company inevitably lock into a groove that, equal parts punk and post-hip-hop soul, stands well enough on its own.

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