Grand Archives
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:56 am
Any of you fuckers heard of these guys? Former Band of Horses guitarist Mat Brooke's latest project. I'll admit, I don't really know jack-shit about Band of Horses, but I'm guessing a lot of you indier-than-thou peeps in here dig them. Anyway, we got this Grand Archives promo in at work a few days ago and I just put it on the stack for our main reviewer without a second thought. Then today, I find out that our reviewer didn't submit anything for our 2/14 issue and we needed a couple reviews ASAP. Right away, I was like "Well, I've got this badass CD by this Chicago grindcore duo, Plague Bringer, that I kinda wanted to review anyway." So for the second review, I turned to the aforementioned stack of promos and pulled out the Grand Archives disc. Lo and behold, it's a really great fucking album. It's got a 60s/70s psychedelic pop vibe with awesome four-part harmonies, a la Pet Sounds, but with a bit of modern alt-country twang mixed in for good measure. I was thoroughly impressed. I might have to check out some Band of Horses stuff now, or maybe his prior band, Clarissa's Wierd. The press kit talks about how how much happier and poppier it is than B of H, but there's still a definite melancholy vibe through most of the songs. Kind of like a less polished-sounding Travis or maybe some of the Flaming Lips more bittersweet stuff.
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