It’s Red-Hot US Indie Thangs Monday!…
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[4.67]
Doug Robertson: Jangle, jangle, strum, strum, jangle, whine, jangle, strum, jangle, jangle, whine, strum, jangle, jangle, fade.
[3]
Alex Ostroff: Fades into my mind like a radio station tuning in before bursting into a power pop guitar riff that wraps itself around my brain and refuses to let go. For all that, the vocals are soft and unassuming. “Weekend” is a slightly more upbeat take on the hazy summer California indie pop of recent years. It’s nothing special, but deserving of a spot on my mental AM radio station nonetheless.
[6]
Jer Fairall: The Ironic Bubblegum movement that dominated too much of indie rock in 2010 was certainly one of the more obnoxious trends of recent years. Smith Westerns thankfully appear to be much more sincere about their winsome pop sunniness than dicks like Wavves, and the guitar work here maintains a ramshackle charm without ever dipping into amateurishness, but the vocalist has absolutely zero presence and the tune itself feels too by-the-book to ever convince me that there was ever any animating spark of passion.
[5]
Zach Lyon: Fucking successful teenagers that only serve to remind me of my failures can go fuck off, but THIS RIFF. And “weekends are never fun unless you’re around” has to have some degree of self-parody or irony to it (I’m pretty sure they’ve spent the past two years recording and touring with grownups) but is still filled with way too much suburban nostalgia for me not to love.
[8]
Chuck Eddy: Keep reading that these Chicago kids are so glam rock or garage punk or Bowie or T. Rex, but they sure sound like just more pale ringing middle-of-the-road post-Oasis Brit-pop to me (Wiki page mentions Back From The Grave; give me a fucking break). No crunch, no swing, no charge, no bop, no snottiness, no swishiness, no banging of gongs. Not awful, probably.
[4]
Anthony Easton: Cheap, easy, dull, and immaculate. Can we set up re-education camps in the North Michigan woods where all Beatles albums are replaced with Grace Jones and all Nuggets albums are replaced with Fun House?
[1]
Martin Skidmore: I think I’d like their record collection, but I am unimpressed with them.
[3]
Josh Love: I overvalued this one the first few times I heard it, simply because these guys had gone from being completely unlistenable to, well, listenable. The glam-pop burst of the guitars satisfies here, but the vocals are a nullity. So, a [2] band becomes a [6] band – still, it’s a trebled improvement.
[6]
Alfred Soto: The dreamy-creamy vocals and harsh guitar hook tickle my toes, so why is this tong so inert? I blame my age: every harmonic swell and vocal swoop becomes a palimpsest of self-referentialty. When I want perfect girls that inspire this level of devotion I’ll take Pains of Being Pure At Heart, and No Age when I need perfect girls who aren’t so dreamy and voted for Ralph Nader in 2004.
[6]