Customer Reviews

The Kick and the Snare

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

 

 

I just heard two tunes from this album on NPR tonight, and I was considering buying it. After reading your review, J. brown "Mr. Snacks", I have decided to buy it. Any band hated so much by a 'labeler' such as yourself is bound to be good.

There is a impulse just to say ditto to the last good review. However, I will venture to explain what is so fantastic about this release. I've been following the band since The Day of The Ray. And while I liked that album, I could not help but feel that it fell short. The lyrics were intermittently interesting and the music just did not have the fusion of a REAL band. At the time, if pressed, I would have said that it was somewhere between Beulah and GBV without the post punk meets Genesis vibe or some many horns. In other words, a distant cousin to E6. Credible and good but somewhat lacking. Here, however, is different deal. Pushing the power pop to the front, tightening the lyrics, and using there past influences for accents, The Deathray Davies really stand out here. This is the point where a band comes into its own as a unit and not just a project. Whether or not this will lead to further heights or disappointment remains to be seen. Like so many later day indie bands, it comes down to interplay. And here it comes in spades. From the driving opener ( A Theme From Augusta for the 21st century.), through the post Ramones New Wave crunch of "Plan to Stay Awake", the tiny lo-fi moments made large of "Stumble" and "In Circles", and right down to the ambtious quasi-Motown stomp of "I'll sing a Sweeter Song" and the decidely Pavement pop punk of "Chainsaw", this album shows a rare group that can master the mid-tempo sound with an enough variety that you don't think they are playing songs that all sound the same as a group that has mastered a very supple style within a specific sound. This, my friends, is a sound that can simply be called rock. And of the highest caliber. The only album I like better than this in the 2005 class is Spoon's "Gimme Fiction". This is album is a joy. I think I am going to surf it but always wind up staying from start to finish.

the kick and snare is more straight ahead garage rock with killer organ/keyboard riffs and excellent guitars, the lyrics remain clever and just plain and simple this rocks, if you're reading this then you already know, the drd continue to amaze.

this album is by far the best thing I've heard in 2005. Big, fat guitar hooks and super-catchy fun songs. If you like bands like The Posies or The New Pornographers you should check out this disc.

I haven't heard this band before. Not sure where they are from. The first song "The Fall Fashions" is very impressive. They are like a combination of glam rock and garage rock. They are like Weezer at times. They are clever. There are some interesting drum sounds. There are some good guitar riffs. This is an interesting album. It seems half finished, but it's good. There are a lot of cool bands that play this sort of music. I am not sure if they can stand out in the pack. I'd rather check these guys out before I would see The Bravery or Jet. I read now that they are from Texas and obsessed with The Zombies: that makes sense.

Three songs into their set one evening in Chicago, my friend leans in to say, "I think they're playing the same song over and over". "If they are, they're absolute genuises. None of these Blue Moon swilling, horn-rimmers will have the guts to ask anyone, least they look unschooled." But that wasn't the truth. The truth is that the band were your run of the mill foux hipster revivalists with more fashion sense that musical chops. The cutesy pun in their band name makes me think of the early 90's ska epidemic when the bands were called SKAface and Luke SKAwalker. Guys, dandy warhols and brian jonestown massacre beat you to the punch.(speaking of the latter, I like how you had your own joel gion wannabe on the tambourine. You might want to give him a metronome to watch to keep better time.) As the sun decends I'm sure these guys are the typical trustfund douchebags you find in the hip and arty neghborhood of any city. It's easy to live the lifestyle when others pick up the tab. You can ride the crest of other artists and cash in on their hard work and ingenuity. Therefore you dont have to work too hard...and you can sleep past noon. In closing... as we exited the club, a friend of ours who was in the balcony, walked toward us and said, "Did you hear what they said to you?" "No, we were too busy discussing their inability to get even their so called fans to move their bodies aside from walking to the restroom". "They told the fifteen people watching them to turn and give you guys the finger." "Oh, how punk." The fair sensibility of a woman saved your van from a tire slashing. One punk move deserves another. Mabye next time your in Chi-town.