Audio Current

1. Any Time 2. Re-entry 3. Pretty Nettles 4. Wish You Luck 5. Drugs 6. Big Time 7. IQuit 8. Me You Us Them 9. As Of Now 10. Loving Like Lawyers

Me You Us Them (Brooklyn, NY, USA)

(2010) LP - Post-Data (Triple Down Records)

Shoegaze / Indie Rock / Post Punk

Ryan Reesey (Guitar, Vocals)

Ian Ljungquist (Bass, Vocals, Laptop)

Zach Eichenhorn (Drums)

(Listen to ‘Big Time’ by Me You Us Them)

If you happen to be one of the many rabid music fans that frequent Audio Current, you’ll already know how scrupulous we are about the quality of music posted here.  Only the very best albums, from start to finish.  We use an elaborate tier system to rank the albums in consideration and if they can climb our pyramid to the top, passing through a gauntlet of scrutiny and all the stars align, it might become a post.  So, when it comes to the countless album submissions we receive, it gets discouraging because our bar is set so high.  This made me very excited to see Me You Us Them’s Post-Data come through the pipeline, as it already topped our shoegaze pyramid and in line to be posted.

Post-Data opens with the smooth, melodic shoegaze of ‘Any Time’ and ‘Re-entry’.  The contrast between buttery vocals and squelching, guitar bends seems perfectly engineered to send a shockwave of sonic pleasure through your body, standing all hair at attention.

“La dot dot da de de da…”, ‘Pretty Nettles’ is even more brilliant than The Dandy Warhols / Autolux blend it conjures.

The aptly named ‘Big Time’ explodes in a kaleidoscope of sound.  It’s driving drumbeat chugs like a roller coaster ascending to the heavens.  Then, with hands in the air, it drops, a massive bass line groove and driving drum beat drenched in a shimmering prism of delayed guitar.  The resulting effect is a mind-blowing, ocular orgasm or eargasm!

Now our submissions bar has been set with this ace slab of shoegaze.  If you think your album is on par with Me You Us Them’s Post-Data and want to see if it will make Audio Current’s cut, send it to us at hello@audiocurrent.net.

*//Purchase

Cool like: A Place To Bury Strangers, Gliss, Autolux, The Raveonettes, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Cocteau Twins, Skywave, Dead Leaf Echo, Morning After Girls, Darker My Love, The Lost Rivers, The Dandy Warhols

1. Echoes 2. The Same Space 3. Surfing The Void 4. Valley Of The Calm Trees 5. Venusia 6. Extra Astronomical 7. Twin Flames 8. Flashover 9. Future Memories 10. Cypherspeed

Klaxons (New Cross, London, UK)

(2010) LP - Surfing The Void (Polydor)

New Rave / Electronica / Indie Rock / Dance Punk

Jamie Reynolds (Bass, Vocals)

James Righton (Keyboards, Vocals)

Simon Taylor-Davies (Guitar)

Steffan Halperin (Drums)

(Listen to ‘Cypherspeed’ by Klaxons)

Forward thinking debut, Myths Of The Near Future, not only spawned the genre “new rave”, it received the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2007.  The second album syndrome is a major obstacle for bands slated for greatness.  New factors present themselves that could, and usually will, circumvent any band’s creative stride.  Now mix in world tours, deadlines and big brother, even The Strokes had fallen short with Room On Fire.  However, survive the syndrome’s gauntlet and enter the company of Nevermind, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, II, White Light/White Heat and The Bends?  Notice how band names aren’t necessary.

Critics obliterated, from ‘Echoes’ stargazing lift-off, to the jagged juggernaut of ‘Cypherspeed’, Surfing The Void deserves full marks across the board.  You wanted an interstellar voyage that pushes the sonic boundaries of reality, of course.  What else did you expect from our four horsemen?

*//Purchase

Cool like: These New Puritans, MGMT, Late Of The Pier, Passion Pit, Starfucker, Friendly, Fires, Metronomy, Foals, Empire Of The Sun, Delorean, Delphic

July 30, 2010, Boston, MA –

Judgments are not supposed to be based on appearances.  Following that logic, the near-capacity crowd at the Lansdowne Street House of Blues was not there to have a good time.  Nor was it there to show off unusual tastes in fashion, ranging from eighties B-boy duds (with Velcro sneakers) to suits-and-skinny-ties, or Richie Tenenbaum-style headbands and tracksuits.  Nor was it there to practice the Robot, or display some serious popping and locking.  Nor was it there to get its freak on, knock drinks all over the place and generally act the part of a herd of maniacs.

Brooklyn-based Neon Indian, brainchild of singer Alan Palomo, was also a study in deceptive appearancces.  (NB:  Audiocurrent’s reviewer was delayed by an unforeseen circumstance, and did not catch any of opener Telephoned, which is a shame to judge from the wares offered on their Myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/1800telephoned

Truthfully, a part of that delay involved hammering down two extra-long Italian Sweets from the “Sausage King” cart out in Lansdowne Street catering to the neighboring Red Sox-Tigers crowd).

Palomo and his bandmates Ronald Gierhart (guitar) and Jason Faries (drums) have the look of a 70s classic rock crew, all huge shaggy hair and denims; think Allmans, Thin Lizzy, or The James Gang.  In contrast, the lone female bandmember, Leanne Macomber, applied herself to the keyboards in a form-fitting Posh Spice-outfit .  The overall effect was as though one of the Robert Palmer girls had wandered onstage with Electric Light Orchestra and convinced them to play psychedelic pop (the accepted term is apparently “chillwave”).  The comparison with ELO is not entirely unwarranted, as Palomo’s group displays a similar knack for the big melodic hook.

However, Neon Indian’s  avant-rock sound-montages (and Palomo’s knob-twiddling assaults) were more reminiscent of early Pink Floyd than anything else.  The band’s entire set was strong and they finished big, pumping out an epic mid-tempo grinder, with a slithery synth-part that wriggled in and out of Faries’s sinuous drumming.

In keeping with this review’s theme, no conclusions were drawn from the appearance of the headliner’s ostentatious light-rig with its totemic neon sign, reminding the audience that it was indeed there to see Chromeo.  And although rampant self-promotion and megalomania is now a cliché of hip-hop and B-boy culture, Chromeo must be the only band on the planet with its own advertising jingle.  As soon as the lights went down, the crowd began chanting “Chro-me-o, Ooh-ooh” to a tune vaguely reminiscent of the chorus of the Wicked Witch’s soldiers from “The Wizard of Oz.”  Later on in the evening, that moment was topped when guitarist Dave Macklovitch (“Dave 1”) broke out the riff to Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing,” while P-Thugg (Patrick Gemayel) talkboxed the song’s hook to altered lyrics:  “I want my Chro-me-o.”  Dave 1 and P Thugg needn’t have worried:  the crowd wanted that and nothing but.

Despite their knack for self-hype, Chromeo is a band with a sense of humor about itself.  Even the lyrical content of certain songs (like “Momma’s Boy” or “Needy Girl”) bears this out, as well.  Their twin sets of keyboards with mannequin’s legs (which light up, and even change color at appropriate moments) are perhaps the most obvious symptom of that humor.  But that comic touch belies a real knack for squelchy synth arrangements and deft guitar- and keyboard –work (from Dave 1 and P-Thugg, respectively).  At times, their writing has a slick neo-soul edge that (if you closed your eyes, or at least looked away from the mannequin-legged keyboards) would not be out-of-place in a Sade or a Prince number. Their new album drops in September.  It will be interesting to watch this band mature and change with time.

The 20th annual San Diego Music Awards are upon us. Cast your votes today for your favorite bands by clicking this banner and then clicking ‘Vote Now’. All you need is your name and email address. We don’t want to tell you how to vote but we can tell you our vote for Best Electronic band of 2010 will definitely be HYENA. Show your support, rock the vote.