Friday, February 17, 2012

The Vaccines and King Krule

5. The Vaccines- What Did you Expect from The Vaccines?

This might be one of my biggest surprises for 2011. I did not expect to enjoy this record anywhere near as much as I did. I figured the initial high of the catchiness of the tunes would be euphoric but short lived. Seeing The Vaccines live also put a dapper on things. Not that they are bad live, but their look and overall demeanor is a bit bland. But in the end, good songwriting will always win out, and compared to most pop/rock records of 2011, this record has the sharpest hooks and tightiest compositions by far.

It seems that as more bands try to churn out "summery west coast surf rock 50s pop," the more inspired this record seems. This is how it's done. It's garage rock, it's the Everly Brothers meets the Kinks, it's the kind of rock music that will never die. It's about youth, love, loss, heartbreak, fun, and it usually comes in a tight 3-minute package. This is how it's supposed to sound.




6. King Krule- King Krule EP
Somehow this record flew under my radar for a few months after it's August release, and barely made it onto this list, but I'm very glad I found it. The best thing about this record is the fact that it sounds like nothing else out there, and is terribly difficult to describe without seemingly short changing it. From one angle, it's a dub inspired paranoid nightmare, from another angle it's a jazz fusion beatnik poetry record with a dash of electronic flourishes. It's an old sound filtered through fresh ears, and hopefully is the start of a new synthesis that will bring even more invention.

Additionally, the lyrics ooze of lost frustrated British youth with too much education/medication and not enough to do. It seems like a great bookend for the last ten or so years with the Streets "Original Pirate Material" at one end and this at the other, as both give people a true sonic representation of the mind of the UK teen right at the moment of their release.

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home