So Pitchfork is sucking these guys new album (Dye it Blonde) off, and they're local, so I decided I would take them on a little test run. They are fun, it comes across like Elliott Smith on happier drugs, but to be honest, it didn't really do that much for me. They have that Beatles' pop sense, with all the psychedelic sounds on top, but it all just seems kind of flat (even though a lot of their guitar solos/riffs sound like George Harrison skyrocketing off into "Free Bird" - see "Still New"). Honestly, there's just not much of an edge to it, and there seems to be nothing that I haven't heard before.
Much like the Shins album Wincing the Night Away of 2007, and Vampire Weekend's Contra in 2010 (both sunshine-y pop discs released in the dead of winter), I think it will be a better listen on a breezy summer day. However, for a January run, it just didn't cut it. I found myself skipping ahead to Sonic Youth's Murray Street for something to carry me home on the back stretch (once again, more on the SY album soon). This is just an initial take, but it didn't do a lot for me the first time around (and not in an "I don't get it" kind of way, but more of a "I get it, and I've gotten it 1000 times before" kind of way). Beatles fiends should definitely check it out, though. It is some symphonic pop (MGMT comparisons are unavoidable), picking up where Smith (Elliot, not Western) left off on From a Basement on the Hill with warped Abbey Road-ian outtakes. Much like with Basement, with each track you can point to a Beatles band/solo song that corresponds. I hope it continues to grow and that the layers unveil themselves with more listens, and that it's just a little too juxtaposed for January.
Here's a track "All Die Young," which sounds like George Harrison run through a Mazzy Star filter.
Smith Westerns-All Die Young (from Dye it Blonde):
Also, in the meantime, here's an amazing video featuring a new Panda Bear cut, "Atiba Song:"
ATIBA EVANS Panasonic GH2 Skate from skatefairy on Vimeo.
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