Over the past year I’ve become increasingly skeptical of anything labeled as pitchforks “best new music”. When Its a band I like, I’m worried because pitchfork hates nearly every band I like, and when its a hype band I’ve been reading about again and again on all the blogs that usually also hate, I am very skeptical (hah). I’m a hater. I pretty much have hated every hype band of 09 (sans girls), and when I’m not instantly bored / pissed off, chances are I’m pretty excited. Surfer blood’s Astro coast is kind of like that. I say kind of, because Im not totally excited (though the album feels like it may be one that grows on me) on the other hand, it may turn out to be like the couple of months I was super into no age’s 2008 LP, nouns (before I completely wore out their sound) but unlike the basic pop-punk structures present in no age’s music, surfer bloods song structures have a little extra something to them.
There are fairly complex, and even sometimes surprising structures here, and though I love a good hook as much as the next guy, hooks can wear thin quickly without anything holding them together. Herein lies my biggest beef with surfer blood: the lack of lyrical content. Fair enough… Its not vampire weekend/dirty projectors bad, but a 16 year old me wouldn’t be caught dead quoting JP Pitts in my away message. To be fair, there are some good lines here: “when I met you I broke the mold/I fell apart and combed my hair/whiskey shakes/fourteen whole days/ stay off the streets at night for weeks”, but they’re few and far between, and even the best don’t amaze. These songs do sound like they come from the heart though, and in the end that’s what counts, right?
group hug everybody!
listen to: Swim, Catholic pagans (live on KEXP).