Monday, November 10, 2008

Too Many Stars In His Head!

Hearing caUSE co-MOTION!'s new single compilation has had the same life-changing effect on me as hearing Hurrah! several years ago, and Felt before that. Of course, I've been aware of the brilliant Brooklyn group since hearing their This Just Won't Last EP from 2005, but maybe it's just the effect of hearing so MUCH caUSE co-MOTION! concentrated to the 20 minutes of the cd that's got to me. After those 14 songs you just have to give in to the fact that the boys are the sharpest-sounding outfit since This Poison!(!) They make it sound effortless, but they know exactly what they're doing at all times. Tim Barnes has given them the best production this side of John Leckie's work on The Strange Idols Pattern... and that side of Josef K. The exclamation mark after the band name and the title of the comp are as firmly affixated as the upside-down 'i' in The Chesterf!elds. And it can't be a coincidence that "It's Time!" is also a track on The Times' first LP Pop Goes Art!. Just like The Times, and definitely succeeding even better than them, cc join the tinny guitars of 80s underground pop with a 60s garage twang and spring reverb. Everything is loud, and why shouldn't it be? The only thing I can truthfully compare this to is the b-side of the Jim's Twenty One 7" (in the player now, along with some other commotion-causing sounds).

The cd leads off with this song, from their Cape Shok split with Jowe Head. It's slightly different, since it doesn't seem to have the same production, but the sheer strength of the song shines forth anyway. It's time to succumb to the ! effect. Crash, crash, crash, because this just won't last!

CLOUD 76! caUSE co-MOTION! - Only Fades Away

No comments: