Hearts & Unicorns

Giant Drag | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Kickball
• ASIN: B000AOF9T8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,232 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Toughest record of the year!!!, September 22, 2005

By 

alexander laurence (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hearts & Unicorns (Audio CD)

Giant Drag is an exciting new band from Los Angeles. It features Annie Hardy who is 24 years old. She plays guitar and sings. Micah Calabrese plays drums and keyboards (at the same time!). Their EP came out a while ago, and it showed some promise. Now the full album is here and it's one of the records of the year. The whole album rocks. The first song "Kevin Is Gay" has the big rock sound that is amazing and gets your attention. Some older songs "Cordial Invitation" and "This Isn't It" come next which remind me of some shoegazer stuff and punk rock follow this. Some songs like "YFLMD" and "My D*** Sux" is more like heavy rock and grunge. One of the best new songs is "Pretty Little Neighbor." This song is about living in the suburbs. "Blunt Picket Fence" is one of the oldest songs. At first it sounded like Mazzy Star, but now it sounds really special. Another cool song is "You're Full Of S***." In some of their songs there is a big build up and great dynamics. "Everything Worse" is almost like a blues song. On this whole album there is a great drum sound. It's truly amazing. One of the last songs "Smashing" is a slow song full of emotion and atmosphere. The last song is the upbeat "Slayer." It feels like a day with a lot of sun, like returning to California after months in cold weather. Annie Hardy is a talented songwriter. This is a band to be on the lookout for. Giant Drag may be taking over soon. This is one of the important records to come out this year.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's not dragging, but it is giant!, March 4, 2008

By 

M. Swinney "Marc My Words" (Flower Mound, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hearts & Unicorns (Audio CD)

Throw me some muses Annie, what in the good God's name of Polly Jean Harvey is going on here? Giant drag? What's a giant drag? Chris Isaak standing you up when you were only 8 is a drag. Chris Isaak letting you play wicked game on track 13 is not a drag, but just plain wicked in a giant way. A perfect updating with sonic guitars and a coy female lead. Nice, it reminds me of a rendition of Floyd's Brick in the Wall by a little California group I heard on a USO tour. Nice little fuzzed out spin on this Isaak standard.

So who is this Giant Drag and what is the giant buzz about? It's little Annie Hardy who looks all of 12 years of age. I don't think she's a mousketeer though since she has played at all kinds of over 21 venues in her day along with Pretty Girls Make Graves. So it's Annie on her fuzzed out guitar singing with the coying pipes and either Micah Calabrese or some guy named Eli on the drums and keyboards. I see someone is comparing them to My Bloody Valentine. Well, friends I wouldn't know about that but she does summon up all sorts of Throwing Muses, PJ Harvey, and a little bit of Silversun Pickups to boot. Track 3, "This isn't it," might as well be Tanya Donneley at the top of her game with that perfect blend of pop perfectery just sitting on the edge of turmoil.

Yflmd, the 4th track has a little bit of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs going on. These guys get a lot of sound from two musicians aka The White Stripes but do it they do and do it well. So I've tried to capture this Giant Drag sound by comparing them to all sorts of other bands just so you can get a little of their flavor but they seem to blazing a trail that draws closely to these influences but madly creates their own sound. With a price that kills or at least is friendly on the wallet I can think of no good reason to pass up giving the Giant Drag a giant try. At least you get to hear Annie devolving into a series of meows at the end of track 1 and hear her riffing on Isaak's Wicked Game...worth the price of admission alone.
--MMW

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Funny -- Tongue in Some Cheek, December 6, 2005

By 

Robert Wise - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hearts & Unicorns (Audio CD)

I saw Giant Drag last night in Portland and was very impressed with their sound, story, and stage presence. They deserve more recognition and probably will receive it. Their CD is listed on a top ten list on All Song Considered on NPR and there is a great picture of Annie there for a recent episode

They are a young band with a sound that I think includes Breeders, Nirvana, and My Bloody Valentine - without any fingerprints and very strong drumming. Their sound is fantastic -- even beautiful -- and at this time their lyrics are clever and biting. Annie is a wonderful comic with a great ability to attack and break every balloon in sight -- addressing subject such as incest, gay life, -- even the size of your member.

They have the ability to address issues of the day and the absurdity of modern life and politics. They have an almost Dadaistic since of comedy. I hope they can go beyond the teen and social scene concerns and reach a wider audience. They can if they, like the Swiss Dadaist-punk rockers Liliput, leave fear behind and decide to be free, wild, and funny -- they could become a unique and powerful band with great music and an absurdist comic message.