Scroll down for reviews from Onion/AV Club, Texas Monthly, The Austin Chronicle, The Big Takeover, Motif Magazine, Jersey Beat, Austin 360/Austin American Statesman, The Music Korner, New York Music Daily
The Onion/AV Club
EP review
April 9, 2021
“The pair’s reunion EP, Freaky Little Monster Children, was born in exquisitely scrappy fashion, recorded late at night in the empty lobby of an artists’ collective. And the sound of this four-song set—equal parts sinister and sunny, with a knack for sinewy guitar riffs—has a rough edge to it as well. The Living Pins filter ’60s psychedelic grooves through the more straightforward sensibilities of ’90s alt-rock, a combination that’s both accessible and impossibly cool…” -Katie Rife
Texas Monthly
EP review
May 25, 2021
“Band members Carrie Clark and Pam Peltz both have infinite Austin slacker cred—Clark from singing and playing with nineties noise-pop band Sixteen Deluxe, Peltz from doing the same in various groups and producing songs on one of Daniel Johnston’s early recordings. The pair started the Pins in 1996, while both were working at an Austin food co-op; it’s somehow fitting that they made their first record 25 years later during a pandemic in an empty artist’s warehouse. Freaky Little Monster Children is part Breeders, part Stones, part early Pink Floyd….” -Michael Hall
The Austin Chronicle
EP review
April 9, 2021
“Sixteen Deluxe's Carrie Clark and longtime local guitar- slinger/songwriter/producer Pam Peltz formed the Living Pins back in 1996 during the heyday of ATX alt-rock. Twenty-five years later, their debut EP finally comes to fruition. Produced by Clark's 16D bandmate Jeff Copas, Freaky Little Monster Children manifests a lively union of post-grunge guitar psychedelia and Stonesy chug, as if the nation's Nineties soundtrack evolved out of seminal garage rock comp Nuggets instead of the Velvet Underground. "Raven" and "Downtown" imagine Mick & Keith's Beggars Banquet as produced by Anton Newcombe…’ -Michael Toland
The Big Takeover
EP review
Issue 88, Volume XLII, No. 1, May 2021
“As these four songs attest, this is a new beginning and one that deserves all ears; it’s good, solid rock ’n’ roll with a little bit of T. Rex and a dash of ZZ Top weaving in and out of the proceeds. Keep it up, folks!”
(This review is not online and is available only in the printed magazine, as far as we know.)
Motif Magazine
EP review
May 5, 2021
“Freaky Little Monster Children is like a basket of shiny psych-rock nuggets...My favorite track is “Raven” because the background effects sound like a jungle with searing guitars and the mystery and menace of singer/guitarists Pam Peltz and Carrie Clark’s vocals floating through the moonlight.”
Jersey Beat
EP review
April 9, 2021
“‘Raven’ is 70s rock and roll with a hint of funkiness, while ‘Downtown’ is mildly psychedelic pop music.”
Austin 360 | Austin American-Statesman
EP review
April 9, 2021
“...these four songs manage to feel like old Austin while still sounding in-step with the 21st century.”
The Music Korner
EP review
April 9, 2021
“... the slow, psychedelic garage rock groove of “Raven”, a song that virtually lulls you into a trance with it’s droning, yet infectious hooks, and “Downtown” which musically throws in a bit of a Lou Reed / Velvet Underground vibe ...”
New York Music Daily
EP review
May 8, 2021
“No slick production or cheesy synthesizers here, just the two guitars, bass, vocals, Brian the Drum Machine, and maybe a four-track.
They open with Raven, a slinky anthem assembled around a brooding minor-key blues riff: the way they mess with a famous Doors quote is spot-on. The second track, Downtown is a vampy 2-chord vintage Velvets jam with some appropriately haphazard lead guitar in places.”