The Southland
I’m not sure where I find out about most music. Okay, it’s usually from blogs, KCRW, links from other artist’s websites, labels, etc., but I don’t ever remember where I hear about particular bands. Typically I write down a list of bands to research, I look for MP3s that the bands are willing to share for free, and I make a mix of enough songs to fit on a CD (I don’t yet have an MP3 player). Then I listen to the mix at work noting which songs appeal to me enough that I want to hear more.
Anyway, recently I downloaded a couple of tracks from a Los Angeles band appropriately called the Southland. After a few listens, the two tracks I had downloaded (Debris and Shadow) had wiggled their way far enough into my brain that I had to have the full CD. I found a copy of their debut Influence of Geography at Amoeba this weekend and have listened to it over the past few days with rather mixed results. At first, the tracks I had originally enjoyed were still enjoyable, but the rest of the album made me cringe. It reminded me of Phil Collins or Sting: sincere rock. Indie rock shouldn’t be sincere. Should it?
After a couple more listens, though, I’ve realized that the album deserves more credit. Most of the album is sincere, it’s true, but it’s the kind of rock from the 80s that you turn up when the Jack plays it. However, a quarter of the album sounds like the kind of dreck your favorite 80s band put out when they changed formats. Like Elton John when he came out of the closet, or Billy Joel when he wasn’t depressed or angry anymore, or Hall & Oates when they tried to make disco music. I like most of the album. It occasionally reminds me of Neil Finn, and there’s a fantastic cover of the old standard I Only Have Eyes For You that makes me wish they did more covers. But I’m torn, since I hate the tracks Radio, Good Grief, and Shining Sun, a track which reminds me of the soul-deadening Jack Johnson.
Ah well, judge for yourself and let me know what you think:
Trivia note: the lead singer Jed Whedon is (Buffy and Felicity creator) Joss’s brother
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[…] Fans of The Southland and other mellow 70s rock-pop stylings will enjoy this. I don’t know if it’s reception hangover, but this group of Parisians has quickly pulled even with Islands and Band of Horses as one of my favorites of the first half of 2006. […]
[…] If you listen to Bel Auburn’s debut album, Cathedrals, immediately after listening to Full Moon Cigarette, you might start to wonder if it was perhaps an earlier Gran Bel Fisher recording as Coldplay and Radiohead seem to permeate the disc. But after listening to Bel Auburn’s second album, Lullabies in A & C (self-released August 14th), it’s easy to hear that the band has not only matured but also begun to craft their own ornate sound. On Lullabies in A & C it’s a sound that incorporates elements of Fear-era Toad the Wet Sprocket, Catherine Wheel, Buellton, The Southland, and Snow Patrol’s latest, Eyes Open. It’s as if Pinocchio willed himself to become a real boy instead of having a fairy turn him into one. Bel Auburn is a real band and Lullabies in A & C is clever, literate, and sometimes heart wrenching. This is music you want to listen to when you are getting ready to drive off a cliff after the girl you thought was “the one” broke up with you. It just might make your turn around. […]
[…] 1 Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That What We Said Then: Fans of The Southland and other mellow 70s rock-pop stylings will enjoy this. I don’t know if it’s reception hangover, but this group of Parisians has quickly pulled even with Islands and Band of Horses as one of my favorites of the first half of 2006. […]