Customer Reviews

Best Party Ever

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Take 1 part Animal Collective, 1 part Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and 1 part The Shins and mix it up and cook on "fun" for about 40 minutes. This is the recipe for England's own, The Boy Least Likely To, perhaps England's greatest export since Oasis. I've been stuck on this album for the last week or so, listening to it non-stop, and I honestly have no idea why. I mean, it's good music, it's very poppy-rock music, and it's fun. Maybe that's it. Maybe this is one of the most fun albums I've heard in a while. Actually, forget maybe....this IS the most fun album I've heard since Of Montreal's "The Sunlandic Twins."

I don't know much about The Boy Least Likely To, other than that I read about them a few months ago in my Under the Radar magazine and have been trying to get my hands on their album since then. Unfortunately, until recently "The Best Party Ever" has only been available to the United States through import. So when Best Buy lists it as being $26.98 on their website, well...I lose interest. But it will soon be available to everyone. Yay!

Like so many other bands I've reviewed as of late, The Boy Least Likely To is, in fact, two boys. Given the recipe for their sound which I've already described, all you need to know is that this album is fresh, original, and...yes...fun. The first song on the album begins with a one-bar xylophone solo, which just reminded me of Schatzi's "Death of the Alphabet," which I still love. The xylophone continues through the songs but the group adds in some mandolin, some steady drums, and light-hearted vocals. It's a phenominal start to an album and immediately hooks you in.

The great thing about this album is that it's almost always upbeat. Lines like "I can't sleep cause I see spiders when I close my eyes" absolutely fill the album, and it's kind of hard not to instantly fall in love with it. Even when it slows down for more serious tracks ("The Battle of the Boy Least Likely To" or "My Tiger My Heart"), you still feel as if you're listening to a carefree song because the band's style is so enchanting, and you know that one is always waiting for you on the next track.

Though I'd love to say more, it would really be fruitless. All I can say is that I'm in love with this band, and you should be too. Is this The Best Party Ever? Maybe...just maybe.

Recommended to fans of The Shins, Animal Collective, and Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah (of course), and anyone who would like to smile for a prolonged period of time.

Key Tracks:
1. Be Gentle With Me
2. Monsters
3. I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star
4. Sleeping With a Gun Under My Pillow

4 out of 5 Stars

This album is fantastic! The songs are pop at it's finest - gentle, charming, catchy, and fun to sing along with. The Boy Least Likely To plays simple music that's easy on the ears. After hearing the banjo in "Be Gentle With Me" and the stellar chorus in "Paper Cuts" for the first time, I was hooked. I can hear the subtle Beach Boys influences, and although this isn't exactly a groundbreaking record, it's just so good you'll hardly notice. The instrumentation is simple yet flawless. Xylophones, banjos, handclaps... The lo-fi sound really works with this group, and the album is enjoyable from the first song to the last. Highlights really do include every track. Each one is good on its own, and as a collection they form an awesome album. The child-like charm found in "Monsters," "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star," and "I See Spiders When I Close My Eyes" is irresistable. Of all the indie pop I've heard, this ranks up there with The Shins and Belle & Sebastian. I recommend this to anyone who likes feel-good pop songs. It just might be the best record of 2005.

The Boy Least Likely To (which I will refer to as BLLT for the rest of the review) can be characterized by the cover of their album, "Best Party Ever"--they are simple, unsophisticated, and full of youth, but at the same time quite charming.
This is not an album you will listen to and feel aware of new musical techniques or styles; in fact, you probably won't feel more enlightened at the slightest. But this is part of the BLLT's charm: they are able to craft extremely catchy, happy sounding songs out of simple ideas.
The whole album very much rings of youth, the lead singer mentions, on several occasions, his refusal to grow up and lose hold of all he has. I "Monsters," the band speaks of their friends getting older, having kids, and propogating that the singer's life would be better if he followed their pattern. In "Fur Soft As Fur," the line "I'm afraid of letting go / of everything I know / so I just sadly float away down stream" is sung sweetly by a male voice, and backed with jubulent sounding strings and a steady beat. In standout tracks "Be Gentle With Me" and "Papercuts," the band sings "I just want to sparkle for a moment / before I fizzle out and die" and "I always used to read before I went to sleep / But now I just pass out watching TV / I've always been in love with you."

In "Be Gentle With Me," BLLT sings "I'm happy because I'm stupid / scared of spiders, scared of flies / if I wasn't so happy / I wouldn't be so scared to die."
Amen, but that happy facade and the thoughtful lyrics are what make the band so amazing.

this album is absolutely enchanting. it is full of catchy, almost silly melodies, lovely chimes, odd percussion instruments that you used in elementary school music classes and is just insanely uplifting. throw away your meds and listen to this while trotting around town and you will not be able to stop smiling. i am in love with the world after listening to this.

The Boy Least Likely To really lends itself to silly puns, like "The boy least likely to disappoint you." Okay, I'm not going to make any.

But in fact, this British tweepop band ISN'T going to disappoint listeners. Their debut album "The Best Party Ever" is full of charming, kooky indiepop, which sounds a little like the Apples in Stereo trying out a twinkly country sound. I mean, who doesn't want to listen to a xylophone song called "I See Spiders When I Close My Eyes"?

It opens with xylophone and banjo, right before Jof Owen starts murmuring, "Staring up into the solar system/All the stars are fixed up in the sky./I just want to sparkle for a moment/Before I just fizzle out and die." The song alternately twinkles and stomps, as Owen sings about spiders, broken hearts, and peaches from a cherry tree.

They follow it up with a series of catchy little songs: the unpredictable electro ballads with handclaps, catchy country-folk laced with keyboard, swoopy little pop songs, bouncy guitar melodies, little plastic flutes, mellow acoustic balladry, and shimmering electro-folk about "chasing rainbows/staring out of classroom windows..."

I have a soft spot for little bands that create solid tweepop, and "The Best Party Ever" is a good example of the genre. They do misfire slightly on one song -- "Sleeping With A Gun Under My Pillow" is brilliant, but it has those drunken twangs sometimes. But it's one small spot on a great song, on an album full of adorable music.

The music itself is a heavy dose of solid acoustic guitar, playing some solid little catchy tunes, and heavily smothered in some pleasant ripples of keyboard and mellotron. But the music is also made sort of childlike and upbeat -- multi-instrumentalist Pete Hobbs also sprinkles in xylophone, harmonica, kazoo, flute, bells and who knows what else.

Owen takes care of the lyrical aspects of the songs -- his voice is very mellow and sweet, tripping along with the music. And his lyrics are adorable -- fruit trees, stars, warm panda cola, "monster" adults from a child's perspective, and falling in love in a way that changes you for the better. And moments of poignant brilliance ("If I looked all over/Different winter would the/Snowstorm fall as beautiful").

"The Best Party Ever" has some rough spots, but The Boy Least Likely To makes a brilliant debut that only promises more good stuff in the future. The boys least likely to.... did.

I adore every song on this record. They played Chop Suey in Seattle and had everyone dancing and singing. Fun band to see live - almost too much fun! Buy them, see them, be happy.

At just over half an hour this album plays much longer than on paper. I've been listening to the cd for the past couple days trying to figure them out. Maybe 60% Beetles, 30% Badly Drawn Boy, 10% fourth grade band practice. Picture post-folk, pop-funk, full of basement beats and clotheline hooks. My advice, impress your friends, buy this album. Is it too early for best of 2005 nominations?

The British Invasion (of music) is still ongoing! Check out these guys on YouTube, then buy this CD. Their music is upbeat, encouraging, and just plain fun to listen to. I purchased this for my 16 year old daughter, who loves it! This is their first big release, from 2003, but still holds up fine.

i think this record is very worth buying... but you can get it on itunes for $9.99. so don't pay $32 here!

The Boy Least Likely To really lends itself to silly puns, like "The boy least likely to disappoint you." Okay, I'm not going to make any.

But in fact, this British tweepop band ISN'T going to disappoint listeners. Their debut album "The Best Party Ever" is full of charming, kooky indiepop, which sounds a little like the Apples in Stereo trying out a twinkly country sound. I mean, who doesn't want to listen to a xylophone song called "I See Spiders When I Close My Eyes"?

It opens with xylophone and banjo, right before Jof Owen starts murmuring, "Staring up into the solar system/All the stars are fixed up in the sky./I just want to sparkle for a moment/Before I just fizzle out and die." The song alternately twinkles and stomps, as Owen sings about spiders, broken hearts, and peaches from a cherry tree.

They follow it up with a series of catchy little songs: the unpredictable electro ballads with handclaps, catchy country-folk laced with keyboard, swoopy little pop songs, bouncy guitar melodies, little plastic flutes, mellow acoustic balladry, and shimmering electro-folk about "chasing rainbows/staring out of classroom windows..."

I have a soft spot for little bands that create solid tweepop, and "The Best Party Ever" is a good example of the genre. They do misfire slightly on one song -- "Sleeping With A Gun Under My Pillow" is brilliant, but it has those drunken twangs sometimes. But it's one small spot on a great song, on an album full of adorable music.

The music itself is a heavy dose of solid acoustic guitar, playing some solid little catchy tunes, and heavily smothered in some pleasant ripples of keyboard and mellotron. But the music is also made sort of childlike and upbeat -- multi-instrumentalist Pete Hobbs also sprinkles in xylophone, harmonica, kazoo, flute, bells and who knows what else.

Owen takes care of the lyrical aspects of the songs -- his voice is very mellow and sweet, tripping along with the music. And his lyrics are adorable -- fruit trees, stars, warm panda cola, "monster" adults from a child's perspective, and falling in love in a way that changes you for the better. And moments of poignant brilliance ("If I looked all over/Different winter would the/Snowstorm fall as beautiful").

"The Best Party Ever" has some rough spots, but The Boy Least Likely To makes a brilliant debut that only promises more good stuff in the future. The boys least likely to.... did.