bedsitter23 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bedsitter23) wrote2013-08-22 07:32 pm
bedsitter23) wrote2013-08-22 07:32 pm
Entry tags:
On the Shelf 98; Foxygen
I spent the last few months of 2012 spending probably talking too much about Foxygen and their Take the Kids Off Broadway album.
This January, they released the much anticipated We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.
Although most bands with obvious influences can get it annoyingly wrong (say Rancid's Clash-isms or John wesley Harding never escaping his Costello-isms), Foxygen make it work.
In a lot of way, I prefer the amateurism of take the Kids in whihc the band would shuffle through Roxy Music, T Rex, Hot Rocks -era Stones, and 3rd album- Velvet Underground on each track, and some times, even mid song.
21st Century finds the band making sense of their style and turning it into something a bit more listener friendly, and slightly less categorizable. They also do it very well. For instance, closing track "Oh No 2" would slip in unnoticeably on Magical Mystery Tour, Ziggy Stardust or the Rocky Horror Show.
Of course, influence #1 is Lou Reed at his most Dylan-ish. Something I wouldn't advise any band to try, but Foxygen does better than any band since Alias Records' early 90s heyday.
Foxygen started the year being heralded by Pitchfork and all the usual suspects, and making rounds on the usual indie outlets; though things went south with an awful Live at Coachella appearance and tour date cancellations.
So maybe live music isn't their thing yet, but 21st Century is still one of the year's best.
This January, they released the much anticipated We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.
Although most bands with obvious influences can get it annoyingly wrong (say Rancid's Clash-isms or John wesley Harding never escaping his Costello-isms), Foxygen make it work.
In a lot of way, I prefer the amateurism of take the Kids in whihc the band would shuffle through Roxy Music, T Rex, Hot Rocks -era Stones, and 3rd album- Velvet Underground on each track, and some times, even mid song.
21st Century finds the band making sense of their style and turning it into something a bit more listener friendly, and slightly less categorizable. They also do it very well. For instance, closing track "Oh No 2" would slip in unnoticeably on Magical Mystery Tour, Ziggy Stardust or the Rocky Horror Show.
Of course, influence #1 is Lou Reed at his most Dylan-ish. Something I wouldn't advise any band to try, but Foxygen does better than any band since Alias Records' early 90s heyday.
Foxygen started the year being heralded by Pitchfork and all the usual suspects, and making rounds on the usual indie outlets; though things went south with an awful Live at Coachella appearance and tour date cancellations.
So maybe live music isn't their thing yet, but 21st Century is still one of the year's best.