Customer Reviews

Avenues

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 2003, punkish band Earlimart underwent a radical musical shift -- away from the Pixies, and into the realm of Grandaddy. The five-song EP "Avenues" shows the first glimpses of their new sound: icily symphonic pop with electronic edges.

Achingly swelling strings (dotted by some rather distracting electronic flourishes) open "Color Bars," followed by the fuzzy guitar rock of "Susan's Husband's Gun Shop" and eerie "Interloper." The untitled fourth track is a fun little experimental ditty with church bells and rat-a-tat drums. Finally it ends with the pretty "Parking Lots."

In truth, "Avenues" feels like the lost B-sides of "Everyone Down Here," the first full-length album with this California spacey-pop sound. Not that that's a complaint -- considering the abrupt shift that Aaron Espinoza and Co. were undertaking, it's pretty impressive that it sounds this polished.

Musically we get to see the whole range of what Earlimart can do -- fuzz rock, ethereal pop, and experimental numbers. Pretty piano melodies come up more than once, often paired with marching drums or mellow guitars, and speckled with little waves of electronic sound. Sometimes these sonic flourishes can be annoying, though. Espinoza sounds like he's on heavy tranquilizers, in the tradition of Jason Lytle -- he sings as if he's half locked in a dream.

Earlimart's present sound blossomed from "Avenues." While only five songs long, it's a pleasant display of what the band is able to do.

Earlimart is a great band, especially with their new sound. This EP introduces this new evolution from typical punk rock into a more sensible digital sound. This was continued with overwhelming success on their 2003 album Everyone Down Here. Compared to EDH, Avenues is quite uninteresting and quite short (only 12 minutes). I recommend skipping this EP and going straight into their full album (which is still short) unless you can find Avenues used for $3 or less.

Awsome example of their new direction.If you're into down-beat, spacey California pop, you'll love this & want every release.Similar sound to Ultra Vivid Scene.

Earlimart has never been very mainstream and for that I am grateful. Avenues is a nice collection of 5 songs that all sound great after one and other. If you're into the sound of these guys, pick it up. Interloper and Untitled are signature tracks.

Just what the world needs, another spacey band from Los Angeles. Fortunately Earlimart, named after a migrant worker farm town halfway between Los Angeles and Fresno, goes beyond being just "another spacey band" manging to fill icy cold music about decay and civilization (I'm looking at you Grandaddy) with warmth and compassion. Like Grandaddy, and The Flaming Lips for that matter, Earlimart went from releasing a couple albums as a post-punk experimental art-rock band into an act that can realize quiet, hushed spaces as appropriately as more boisterous ones. Both *Everyone Down Here* (a full-length released later in 2003) and *The Avenues E.P.* were written at the same time, so it makes sense to talk of them together despite the band's ever-changing line-up, apart from frontman Aaron Espinoza, including Patrick Park, the New Folk Implosion's Russ Pollard, and Grandaddy's Jason Lytle and Jim Fairchild.

*The Avenues E.P.* was actually released prior to *Everyone Down Here* (January vs. April), and as mentioned earlier is no sonically different than the full-length. And with the similarities I see between Elliott Smith and Earlimart, you'd think "Color Bars" would be a more progressive take on the classic *Figure 8* track. "Color Bars" opens with some airy blips with various guitar fill effects before a synthesized string section enters the mix with intermittent glockenspiel accentuations then slowly building to a more traditional song ultimately closing beneath more wind effects and piano. "Susan's Husband's Gunshop" is filled with all the electrical guitar rage one would expect from a title instantly drawing domestic violence imagery to one's mind. Ironically enough, "Susan's Husband's Gunshop" should've been the title track from *EDH* with Espinoza's vocals, again reminiscent of E from the eels on this track, singing the chorus: "and everyone down here is blown apart." "Interloper" continues with Earlimart's tradition of slow build from simple acoustic strum and mild drum beat to something a little more futuristic sounding slowly adding effects and tinkering with the vocals. The untitled track on Avenues is reminiscent of classic Jon Brion with it's slow chime (think *Boogie Nights*), military march drum snares and tinkered tack piano greeted with early morning birds and an occasional higher octave piano arpeggio. Closing *The Avenues E.P.* is "Parking Lots," a brief minute-and-a-half snippet that is supposed to be a complete song but sounds fully unrealized in this context.

The production on *The Avenues E.P.* is topnotch - each instrument or effect feels like it belongs and that something would sadly be missing if it was absent. The subtle mixture of acoustic guitars and untreated drums laced with the more technologically advanced effects, often beginning in the background before slowly making their way to the fore of the mix, create this warm texture missing from so many of their genre compatriots. *The Avenues E.P.* lacks the epic feel to Grandaddy's *The Sophtware Slump* and latest outing, *Sumday,* but they should not go unnoticed because of it. Sometimes the best things come in the smallest, most unassuming packages.

Fave tracks: "Color Bars," "Interloper," untitled #4.