Favourite Sons
Few of you probably remember Rollerskate Skinny. Probably even fewer remember Aspera. It's a shame on both counts. I don't feel I'm wrong in saying that both groups were criminally overlooked, but digging back and listening to both (as I did today), I'll also be the first to admit that it's painfully obvious why neither bands really caught on. It's weird shit.
Both bands ran a parallel course, taking great pop songs and orchestrating them into great catastrophic jumbles. The vocals for both fall somewhere between Ian McCulloch, Julian Cope, and Peter Murphy in a strange sort of way, and are surrounded by anything from noise to toy pianos, depending on the song.
To make a long story short, both bands broke up, and members of each somehow found each other in NYC, becoming Favourite Sons. I've seen them a few times, and they're one of the best bands in the city, in my humble opinion. They've traded in a good deal of the strange qualities of their older bands, and are now just a great somewhat straightforward rock band. Apparently, there's a 7-inch on GSL which I can't find, as well as a UK-only EP on Loog that I'm about to hunt down on import.
The've just signed to VICE, so I'm sure you'll be seeing them all over the place, real soon!
LINKS
Favourite Sons website
Favourite Sons myspace
posted by Young Poisoner at 6:13:00 PM
4 Comments:
i remember rollerskate skinny. not much specifically, but i do have a copy of threshold that i bought when i lived in london many, many years ago.
Oddly enough, I remember Aspera well -- rumors that Pinkie and I share a brain are patently false, despite all the prevaling evidence! Nice to see those fellas working on something again; it's weird, you get so used to hearing baby buzz bands that the new output of seasoned musicians is sometimes startling.
I think it's great to see a new band and be able to immediately state "this is awesome", rather than having to look extremely hard to find something to like in a band. I know that it may seem like a somewhat lazy attitude (and I'm not defending "immediate" music.. see: Rollerskate Skinny & Aspera), but I honestly believe that if you're going to put yourself live in front of people, it should be following the thought "I have something that's worth showing to the world." Otherwise, keep it to yourself?
That is one of the problems with the increasing availability and ease of use of technology (ie digital recording) and distribution channels (ie the internet) to/for anyone and everyone -- increasingly, there's no editorial process before things get thrown out into the world. This isn't always a bad thing, but it seems to be more often distressing and overwhelming than positive most of the time. (And yeah, I realize how ridculous this sounds, coming from someone who concentrates on finding new music so diligently as I.)
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