Sunday, January 21st, 2007

Sunday Cleaning – Volume 63

Oxford Collapse / Remember The Night Parties (SubPop)

“He’ll Paint While We Play”, the atmospheric opening track on the debut full-length from Oxford Collapse, moves at a slow, stately pace but this is a tease – the Brooklyn trio are really about bringing the rock out in classic American indie rock fashion. Take some early Superchunk, maybe some Versus, filter through the present-day post-punk revival while retaining a solid pop sense and you’re in the ballpark. Guitars jangle and stab, the rhythm section is muscle-y in all the right places and Michael Pace shouts as much as sings but surprisingly doesn’t annoy me (yet). No ground is being broken but it being lovingly tended. The Oxford Collapse are at Lee’s Palace next Sunday, January 28, with Thunderbirds Are Now! and Rock Plaza Central.

MP3: Oxford Collapse – “Lady Lawyers”
MP3: Oxford Collapse – “Please Visit Your National Parks”
Video: Oxford Collapse – “Please Visit Your National Parks” (MOV)
MySpace: Oxford Collapse

Youth Group / Casino Twilight Dogs (Epitaph)

Epitaph is a label that made its name putting out in-your-face Californian punk rock, but none of that’s in evidence on the new album from Australia’s Youth Group, released there last Summer but out in North America on Tuesday. Instead, they’re bringing the world a glistening collection of sincerely heart-on-sleeve pop that sounds not a little like a lost album from James. While all quite pretty if a bit innocuous, their cover of Alphaville’s “Forever Young” is surely what stands out the most – not so much for their execution, which is fairly rote, but the simple fact that they tackled maybe the ultimate 80s synth-cheese anthem and did so with as much earnestness as the original and a straight face. Coming soon (yet again) to a high school prom near you (or Canberra). But considering the single appeared on The O.C. and netted them a #1 single in Australia, it’s entirely possible/probable that they knew exactly what they were doing.

MP3: Youth Group – “Sorry”
Video: Youth Group – “Catching & Killing” (Flash)
MySpace: Youth Group
By : Frank Yang at 9:15 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. 1/21/07 12:24 pm

     Brad McDuffie says:

    Frank,

    Hey. I love what you do and read your blog all the time. I went to see "Pan’s Labryinth" the other night. I really liked it. It was smart– he played the line between the spritual world and the natural world very well. The ending, of course, being the best example of this. I really liked how all of the little girl’s actions were mirrored in Mercedes actions (or vis a vis). Anyway, I was just wondering if you knew if the M Ward tour only cd was still available anywhere? I’d like to get my hands on it somehow.

    thanks,
    Brad

    P.S. The Band of Horses song you posted a couple of weeks ago is really great. I’ve been putting it on all the new mixes I’ve been making.

  2. 1/21/07 5:31 pm

     Kevin says:

    Gotta say, I really like that Youth Group album. Not sure why I feel like I have to apologize for it, but it seems like a guilty pleasure of sorts.

  3. 1/21/07 8:53 pm

     Aussie Chris says:

    The cover of Forever Young was just a major curse for Youth Group. Huge sales by Australian standards, with the song played in every shopping mall and elevator until you couldn’t stand to listen to it. Youth Group have been around for about 7 years and it was so different to what they had released. Will they ever recover? Not likely.

  4. 1/22/07 9:50 am

     Frank says:

    Brad – the live album was tour-only five years ago, so I’m guessing that it’s completely unavailable through conventional channels. In other words, you want it, you’re going to have to fire up ebay and musicstack.

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