I've only listened to a couple of the guy's tracks before this, but never the less, I'm immediately impressed by this. I definitely need to check out more stuff like this. Apparently its his last album on Def Jam Records and its gonna have a couple guest shots from R&B starlets like John Legend, Estelle and others I'm far too suburban to have heard of.
Recently my music library has been kind of stale, mainly because I don't have a proper internet connection where I'm living at the moment, I really need something new to obsess over. Perhaps this album could be it.
Before I moved out I was really interested in an American duo The Drums; they're two guys currently working together in New York and they've got a slightly convoluted musical history - but don't all the best bands?
Once upon a time there was a band called Elkland who were sort of like 80s power pop revival, think Chesney Hawks or Limahl, but slightly cooler and a little more camp. Anyway, that band were making waves for a while over in the states and were even on Columbia Records for a while. They even supported Erasure apparently.
Apart, I think this was the only single off of their 2005 debut "Golden", it's not an especially great release.
Well, when they disbanded, lead singer Jon Pierce went on to form Goat Explosion with multi - instrumentalist and childhood friend Jacob Graham. GE had a similar sound to the aformentioned Elkland but with much more organic synths and considerably less produced, lo fi sound...but it was still pretty camp. I discovered Goat Explosion by accident a while ago but by that time they'd disbanded (I heard rumors about an argument between the two involving some girl) and Jacob had gone on to form a bunch of new wave style bands - namely flashlight party (who I loved) and later on Horse Shoes. Both of these were pretty similar to New Order, Orchestral manouveurs in the dark and other groups of that ilk. Layered synthesizers, ghostly vocals and a whole lot of wintery meloncholy. Generally my kinda jam.
Here's a link to their last ep, Wreaths_
Anyway, later on down the line, two old friends reunited and have now formed The Drums, and they seem to be whipping up quite a storm. They've got a nice stripped down kinda sound that wears its post punk influences on its sleave, they come complete with holow basslines, wirey guitars and a few synth stabs wherever needed. Its Jon's vocals and the lyrical content that add the most unique and intriguing layer to their sound - Songs about surfing, roller coasters and young love in the summer time delivered in a soothing and innocent croon almost make me feel like I'm watching Stand by me or watching The Wonder Years. Not to mention, there's slightly less than consipicuous Phil Spector influence on the production front! Are we looking at the first post punk / doo wop / teen idol cross over band, and if so, do what do we call it?! Post Idol? Punk Wop? New Doo?
Oh and did I mention how handsome they all were? Its like Abercrombie and Fitch meets Domino Records!
Let's Go Surfing is their current single and its making waves (HAHA!) in the blogosphere and the real world alike. I think I heard in an interview that their ep is being released in the UK by Moshi Moshi records.
Here's their myspace - www.myspace.com/thedrumsforever - listen to "I Felt Stupid" and download the Lets Go Surfing maxi single for free.
Boffo!
Oh! Check out my friend Johanna's blog, I can't read french so it makes absolutely no sense to me, but there's loads of cute pictures of her and her ludicrously chic looking friends. Aside from that, I can't really vouch for the written portion of the content. But hey, its nice to look at pictures right? I sure think so.
http://wersindsie.blogspot.com/
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