T.V. Girl-S/t EP

San Diego's little known indie pop outfit T.v. Girl recently released their first (As far as I know) ep on their bandcamp page, and has set the blogopshere on fire. Reaching as far as getting a review on The Guardian UK's website. They will be big.

Regardless, the ep starts out with a very sweet song called "On Land" which sounds like band that Brian Wilson would have recorded if keyboards and synths were used in 1966. The ooh's and aah's are great, and the lyrics pushed low in the mix are a tip of the hat to just about every shoegaze group ever. The tempo is up beat, yet the lyrics not so, "Bandage on the soul unraveling" repeated multiple times in the song. A good juxtaposition of emotions.

The next song on this four track ep starts out by sampling "Hello its me" by Todd Rundgren, then breaks of into its own beautiful sound scape. A song about love, and love lost. "Morning comes, and I know how the next part goes. One last dance, then you delete me off your phone." That line pretty much sums up the song as a whole. The jangle of the bells makes the song feel warm, against the cold trumpets and keys.

After that, "It's Not Something" takes the narrator into a different direction. Its completely backwards. The narrator has full control of love, commanding that "The closer that we get, the more it seems to bore me. You should probably just ignore me. You have to notice that I only call at night." Then goes on to admit that there was more than one girl. A complete shift in mood from the previous tracks to have the narrator have full control of his life. Also the song itself is very upbeat and danceable to. the synth drives it, and the beat keeps up.

I' dont care. My favorite song of the album wraps it up. A song about apathy, and what a better way to talk about life. Singing a song that symbolizes our generation of apathetic geniuses. A diatribe about how life is nothingness and how its all a farce, is a great song to wrap it all up. "Call me apathetic, 'cause I don't really mind."

This band better get big, if it doesn't then something is wrong. I think they'll be as big as The Drums or even Tennis by the first of the year, especially if their FREE ep becomes viral.

Also, DOWNLOAD IT it. for FREEE.

8/10 FWIW, I really enjoyed it. Thank you T.v. Girl

Know What I Deal!

Know what I feel!
The Thermals are one of my favorite bands, and I think giving a just-over-half of a decade retrospective look at their Sub>Pop release More Parts per Million. Now, in 2003, I don't remember much about this record. Of course, I was also twelve. I didn't hear about the thermals until I was about seventeen, and picked up a copy of The Body, The Blood, and The Machine (2006) by accident at my local library.

Regardless, after I found out about the Thermals, I soon found out that there was a lot I was missing. Though, I didn't know what I wanted out of music. I was naive. I wanted slick production, No-fi; No Way. I probably heard No-culture icons somewhere between then and when I was nineteen (now), though I sure as hell cannot remember it. I picked this record up, just because I'm a music hound, and now a big lo-fi/no-fi junkie (I guess I was then too, I just didn't look at it the way I do now.).

More Parts per Million kicks off slowly. An odd choice, if you would ask me, to start one of the most up-beat records in their stable with a song that is probably the slowest track. Well, whatever, it works, because I kept listening.

These are not the Thermals I knew. These are not the bold, angry and political Thermals of TBTBTM, yet an innocent power-pop/pop-punk band that cares about love, and relationships. The star track No-Culture Icons talks about an art scene of overbearing criticism and over-use, then takes a sharp left and turns into a love song by one last phrase "I can't fucking stop/ hinking about you." A love song. How quaint.

There is a pattern in this record, style be damned. Its warning against intellectualism corrupting thought. "Eyes so deep, you'll never see" is repeated on a few different tracks. Why?

Why not? Whats more damaging than taking this for what they may represent, opposed to what the defiantly do.

This record will make you move. It is powerful.
This record may make you weep. It is reflective.

All in all, after five years, this record is more socially relevant than it was in 2003. Now that the Thermals are almost in a "Joy Division" phase, I can look back through their catalog and appricate every minute of evolution.

Thermals, I can't fucking stop, thinking about you, or this record. More Parts per Million, you earn a 9/10.

If you disagree, comment. You wont.

Prove me wrong.

Maybe I'm just crazy. Crazy for you, baby...

"You say that, "we're just friends" but I want this 'till the end" croons Bethany Cosentino, on the track "The end" on her band's most recent (August 2010) release Crazy for You. Booming drums, crooning vocals, swirly light guitars, and most of all no overbearing noise.

Now, this isn't a bad thing. The production really shines. If one were to climb into a 1981 DeLorean, and take this record back to 1966, it would chart. It really feels old, and it feels new too. The subject matter is generally consistent of talking about Boys, Love, Weed, and Summer.

Though, this record doesn't die at the shift of a season. I've really been listening to it alot recently, and we're in the middle of a (unseasonably warm) Autumn. It really is a cold record, for being so cold. The narrator is constantly talking of sorrow, and loneliness, and she wants to "go back to, the first time, the first."

I know I'll be listening to this record during the cold winter days, watching snow fall. Its the perfect narrative for a love. Good, bad, or otherwise. Simply just love. Or maybe just flings. I don't know. I know I love this record.

Best Coast, please write a christmas EP, I'll buy it. I promise.

I give Best Coast- Crazy for You a strong 8.5/10. Its one of my favorites.