REVIEW: Best Coast – "The Only Place"

I don’t know, man. I was pretty fucking stoked on Crazy For You. I had a pretty good time seeing Best Coast live last year. I expected this record to be just as strong as the last one (and the multiple 7″ releases). Sadly, the record is more “ehhh” than anything else. It is not bad, but it isn’t particularly great either.

The shiny, surf pop songs are few and far between here. Still good pop, but more calm and mid tempo. It feels like the fun got sucked out of the band. The lyrics are pretty fucking plodding. The best part of Crazy For You was, despite being rather simple, the lyrics and vocals were full of hooks. Shit would just get stuck in your head, and you goddamn liked it. While I don’t expect great lyrics to come out of pop music, the things here are just repetitive. The Only Place seems, save for the titular song, to be rather depressing. While the last record had a similar vibe lyrically, the music made up for it. This record is just kind of a bummer.

Let it not be said that there is not good parts here. Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno still know how to write a good pop song. Bethany’s voice sounds pretty great on all these songs. Since the last record, she sounds a lot stronger vocally. Jon Brion’s production sounds pretty fucking great. He managed to get this to sound well produced without completely washing over the low-fi sound that the band is known for. It is cleaner, but not glossy.

Honestly, my biggest complaint with the whole thing is the clumsy lyrics. While it never falls victim to complete Henery the Eighth, I Am syndrome, it does get pretty fucking close. Repeating a line in a song is fine, but when the lion’s share is the same 2 and a half phrases repeated over and over again, like in “How They Want Me To Be,” it can get a little much. I don’t know.

I’m not ready to fully write this off as a sophomore slump. I’m thinking this record might be a grower. I mean, it is still a good summer record. Talk to me in August. We’ll know for sure by then.

Best Coast
Mexican Summer
Buy It

The Best Shit of 2010

Well, it is the end of the year. This, of course, means it is time to pretend my opinions matter, and compile my best of list for 2010.

Obviously, this list is my favourite stuff of the year. You may disagree with it (I like that I am typing this warning when, honestly, no one actually reads this thing [save that one dude, maybe]). So, yeah.

On with the show, motherfuckers.

TOP 10 FULL LENGTHS (in no particular order):

1) RVIVR – “RVIVR”
2) Blunt Mechanic – “World Record”
3) Off With Their Heads – “In Desolation”
4) Snowing – “I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted
5) Grown Ups – “More Songs”
6) Castevet – “The Echo & The Light
7) Best Coast – “Crazy For You”
8) Iron Chic – “Not Like This”
9) The Dum Dum Girls – ” I Will Be”
10) Alkaline Trio – “This Addiction”

TOP 7 INCHES AND EPS (in no particular order):

1) The Get Up Kids – “Simple Science”
2) The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – “Formlessness”
3) Lemuria – “Chautauqua County”

STUFF THAT WAS ALSO PRETTY AWESOME (but, not “top 10” awesome)
1) Candy Hearts – “Ripped Up Jeans & Silly Dreams”
2) The Gaslight Anthem – “American Slang”
3) Mi Ami – “Steal Your Face”
4) Shinobu – “Exhaustive, Exhaustive”
5) Grass Widow – “Past Time”
6) The Thermals – “Personal Life”
7) Japandroids – “No Singles”
8) Bars Of Gold – “Of Gold”
9) Sundowner – “We Chase The Waves”
10) MGMT – “Congratulations”

One record missing from all lists is “Ghosts On The Boardwalk” by The Bouncing Souls. The reason that it is not included is because, while it came out in January of 2010, it is just all the songs from their monthly 7″ series in 2009. As such, it was on my 2009 list as the series, and would be poor form to include it this year again. Though, yes, it is totally awesome.

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So, that is the list. More reviews coming this week, as we wrap up 2010.

REVIEW: Best Coast – Crazy For You

“I lost my job, I miss my mom, I wish my cat could talk”

The hype around this band is huge. So huge that I had written the band off as yet another fucking “throwback” type band. You know, the kind that hipsters always end up being in love with. The whole kitsch thing always bothered me.

This album came out in late July, I did not hear it until around mid-October (mostly due to the insistence of my friend). Was the hype deserved? Eh, maybe. To a certain point, anyway.

Basically, you are looking at a throwback style indie pop record. So, all the trappings are there. low-fi, fuzzy guitars, 60’s influences vocals. The whole bit. What makes this stand out from similar bands, like Dum Dum Girls, is that this borrows more from Brian Wilson than it does the classic girl groups. The surf vibe gives it that California sound that this record was meant to have. Yeah, there are touches of garage, but mostly this is a surf pop record. That is mostly pretty awesome.

Lyrically, this is pretty simple. While some bands, let’s say Wavves, suffer from having overly simple lyrics, Best Coast seems to excel because of it. In the song Bratty B, the line “sorry I lost your favourite t-shirt. I’ll buy you a new one, a better one,” comes off sounding sincere rather than awkward and blunt. The quote that opens the review is from the song Goodbye, which is probably my favourite on the whole record. A whole lot of this record is written in the clear and succinct style found in classic pop music. The “I love you” and “I miss you” sentiments sound better that way to me. It worked for the Beach Boys, it worked for the Ramones, and it works for Best Coast

For the songs themselves, the opening song Boyfriend usually gets skipped. Same goes for Honey (though not skipped as much). To me the record seems more front loaded. The first six songs seem to be the best of the bunch. The latter six tracks have their moments, but all the strong, must listen songs are already over. This is a pretty common thing with music these days, I just do not get it. While the latter half is certainly not filler by any means, it just does not feel as strong (save for Bratty B, which is the stand out on the 2nd half).

More or less, the hype around this band was pretty spot on. Best Coast is not doing anything that has not been done before. Bethany Cosentino is obviously no Brian Wilson. For being a throwback type indie pop band, in a scene where there are plenty, Best Coast stands out. So, fuck it, lets say 4 out of 5. Yeah? This record is going to be on a lot of “Best Of 2010” lists, and it is totally fair.

Buy It.
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