I happily agreed to review the proper debut album by Lame Drivers on account of the cool sleeve artwork. On first glance, it looks like a painting by Kandinsky but turns out to be by Kazimir Malevich. Either way, I love it. So does the music this New York based band from Noo Joisey live up to the artwork, are they futuristic art rock?
Well, opener (if you have the vinyl edition) Eyes is more wimpy indie than it is arty and yet it seems to have this sort of vibe of power pop trying to sound like Wire and ending up being like a Matthew Sweet outtake. I wish I could remember the tune they seem to be ripping off, though. Outlaw For A Day is slightly angular; a Greg Kihn goes art-poppy indie song that has some really cool bass on it no matter how the bastards felt.
Frozen Egg is one of those subjects you don't often hear being sung about over. It's cluttered Jangle pop of the sort that Close Lobsters play while asking if it's right to be born into a different era to the one when your egg was frozen. Throw It To The Moon is nice and echoey on the vocals. In a Hang Ten sort of way it sounds quite C87.
Slow Detective is, well, slow and brooding and slightly goth in a Certain General kind of way but with a bit of early Psychedelic Furs thrown in. A very cool dark song altogether. Berlin Affidavit is not at all Teutonic in sound but is it appears to be about learning about Berlin in a very jangly way. If you have the vinyl Right Track kicks off side 2 on, erm, the right track. If you liked early 2000s band Transister or even remember them it has an urgency similar to them.
Then they have an odd interlude before Vacation Exit Philadelphia (as I-tunes calls it) or just Vacation as it is on the album sleeve. It tries to sell you on an odd vacation in a sort of real slack, Pavement-esque, sloppy as hell kind of scene. Season Control is not about the Weather Underground but might be like the Weather Prophets singing about..well, is it Baseball players getting day jobs or have I lost the plot again?
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Sister is nicely laid back song for the sister who's gone away. Free Martin passed me by entirely. Unseen Tarot which closes the vinyl edition is rather jangly with a couple of odd bits in the middle like you've drawn the wrong card and don't like what you're hearing.
Then, if like me, you're listening to the Jigsaw CD of this album rather than the Kickstarter vinyl there are 3 bonus tracks the first of which is Color Me Dead. This has a good build in the middle of it before it freaks out a bit. Headhunting has a bit of a motorik beat surrounded by almost call and response urgent lyrics. It's one of the fastest paced songs on the album.
The final bonus track is Other Side: a nice slice of summery jangle pop to finish off this pretty cool album that I just wish was a touch artier and futuristic.
Find out more at Jigsaw Records online
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