Some records carry the unmistakable feeling of musicians spending years chasing the right sound. Raw Cuts, the debut album from Richmond, Virginia’s The Clean Crime Scene, belongs firmly in that category. Released October 30, 2026, through Blank Verse Records and Brothers Club, this 50-minute collection grew out of summer recording sessions along the Jersey shore between 2021 and 2023, eventually taking shape through years of additional writing, overdubbing, and mixing. The hazy collision of garage rock and psychedelic textures, where dirty guitar riffs meet dreamy vocals and the rough edges are very much part of the appeal.
“Backstabbers & Moneygrabbers” opens with acoustic guitar strumming that soon gets tangled up in gritty, fuzzy electric guitars and thumping drums. There’s a wonderfully restlessness to the arrangement, with each layer adding another degree of grit and intensity. Diana Simek’s vocals glide through the opening with a moody hypnoticism, but as the music thickens, her voice becomes submerged in the bustling instrumental haze. She becomes another part of the song’s enveloping atmosphere, lending it a woozy, almost hallucinatory pull.
“In The Ground” offers a welcome change of pace. Jangling, shimmering acoustic guitars provide a lighter surface, while a deep, heavy bass line gives the track a satisfying undercurrent. Diana’s relaxed vocal performance complements the gentler arrangement and allows the melody to breathe.
“Don’t Mind At All” brings the grit back in force, with buzzing, grinding guitars and pounding drums generating a thick, persistent wall of sound. John Simek takes the lead with a candid, moody vocal that feels unpolished in the best possible way. Diana joins him for the chorus, her softer, ethereal voice softening his earthier delivery and giving the song a dreamy lift.
Written and recorded by John Simek with contributions from longtime musical collaborators, Raw Cuts benefits from its organic, lived-in construction. The final mixing work with John Trainum at Richmond’s Spacebomb Studio and mastering by Alan Douches give these recordings their finishing touches without sanding away their personality. Fans of Ty Segall, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Mazzy Star should find plenty to enjoy in this blend of fuzzy psychedelia, garage-rock grit and drifting melodies.
Raw Cuts may have taken five years to complete, but its appeal lies in music that still feels spontaneous, imperfect and wonderfully alive. Experience the album in vinyl here.
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Review by: Naomi Joan