Since all digital music is free now I’ll steal and check out pretty much anything. Sometimes I’ll have a really guilty curiously like an Unkle song with Ian Astbury contributing vocals, other times I just want to know my enemy and will download the latest blogtastic pile of shit to know what I hate. It’s a great way to waste time at work and all your embarrassment is safely tucked away on a hard drive, no harm no foul. Googling the name of those curious but mostly disappointing reunion records and the word “mediafire” is your best friend. This piracy technique was the reason I actually heard Dinosaur Jr.’s most recent record, Beyond. Barring the weird song with the semi-White Zombie riff it was surprisingly good. Unfortunately when you have seven billion mp3s good = forgettable and ends up just sitting somewhere never to be heard again. Going to see Dinosaur Jr. now expensive and the equivalent of a high school reunion. Everyone is doughy and tragic. Spending hundreds of dollars for a nostalgia trip is tempting at times but not for Gray Mascis 2008. There are better alternatives in this sketchy economy.
A few weeks ago I spotted a 7″ at Academy Records in Williamsburg from Sleepwall. The description read “really awesome new band like Dinosaur Jr. and early Built To Spill check it out!”. I love record store descriptions, they’re operating on some fucked up elementary school lunch room trade psychology like “Hey man I’ll trade you this really awesome apple for your Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups because apples are SO good”. I’m usually not swayed but who the fuck sounds like Dinosaur Jr. these days and $5.00 is an afforadble gamble. Everything I read tells me that people are really trying to be fiscally responsible so the economically concerned part of my brain, which usually fails me, decided that Sleepwall was an undervalued stock and that they were just the type of opportunity you need to jump on in a down market.
Door opens, top comes off the record player, vinyl removed from paper sleeve, glance at the layout for clues, throw on the A-side, wait for the static to turn to guitars and so it begins. Wait a fucking second, there’s a legit Dino-ish riff struggling to get out of the tiny speakers on my portable record player followed by a catchy vocal line and a very driving song. Right after the first spin I give it another spin to make sure I wasn’t hoodwinked, nope this is the real deal. Clips of Neil Blender flash through the space over my beard but I’m not seeing long stringy hair, Fender Jazzmasters and washes of green and purple. Sleepwall has a modern feel despite the similarities in their sound to late 80s/early 90s indie rock. I go back into the caverns in my brain and go “wait if I heard this in the early 90s would I just think it was average, there was a lot of power poppy shit then.” My brain then called me a fucking pussy and said “What the fuck is wrong with you dickhead? Who gives a shit about the early 90s when you wore corduroy and were obsessed with indie rock, you were a freshmen 15 years ago you fucking loser”.
Photograph by : Eric Schwortz - http://www.iamtheeric.com
My brain was totally right as it usually is when it’s critiquing the manifestation of it’s thoughts, it’s weird like that, thanks brain. The beauty of the world today is that a web search can then provide you with all the info you need about a band. I was nervous because Sleep and Wall are really common words and I didn’t want to bring up a bunch of shit about Ambien and Carpentry but I was quickly directed to their Myspace page. My next bit of info was that they were from Long Island and Brooklyn, which instantly made me like them more because they’re local, and they’re young so that makes me like them even more because it sucks to only be surrounded by old dudes as washed up as yourself. Digging through pictures I notice that of the Sleepwallers is wearing a Cro-Mags shirt, and I recognize the other cat….something is familiar about this. Further inspection left me with these details : other people dug Sleepwall and felt that they were Dino Jr.-ish, some of the dudes were in Hardcore bands and everyone that wrote about them on the interweb dug them.
Photograph by : Eric Schwortz - http://www.iamtheeric.com
So I am not going to mention J’s band anymore because they really only have a super Dino vibe on one track, everything else including the Is This Factual Ep is riffy power pop that sounds very much rooted in Indie Rock. Not the iTunes genre Indie Rock, Indie Rock as in I’m Lou Barlow, I have floppy hair, I suck at getting chicks, I used to be into fast hardcore but now I smoke weed and really dig fuzzed out pop songs. The infectiously catchy yet twisted pop of Bobby Pollard, the sound of lo-fi recordings, lo-fi beer and lo-fi cigarettes. That is the best shit. Remember when you first discovered this type of music and you wanted to get anything that remotely sounded like that? Anything that remotely fit the description of power poppy indie rock would be consumed from Archers of Loaf and Polvo to Overwhelming Colorfast and Fluf . Every record, tape and CD out there on SST, CRUZ, Merge or whatever label might contain a song that perfectly summed up how you felt about being a semi-burned out 90s guy and would occupy your brain on a loop making you feel invincible even at your lowest. The hottest chick on earth could spit at you but if Web In Front is blasting in your head who-gives-a-fuck! Thanks Indie Rock.
Sleepwall are young, focused and promising, if you’re a douche you’ve got reservations because of the Cro-Mags shirt. I’ll tell you this, it’s not ironic and who better to be playing music like this than dudes transitioning from music with mosh parts than hardcore dudes with good taste? That’s who the fuck formed Indie Rock in the first place so stop pretending you have any clue what the fuck you’re talking about and enjoy a great new band. Bass player Joe Cristando is probably Italian so I already love him, he bought some shit in a blizzard during my estate sale which is super nice and then he hooked me up with a sampling of their tracks. That’s extreme bro status right there instantly. They’re working on songs for an LP with Jason Lowenstein from Sebadoh which promise to up the ante of their mopey but hopefully infectious guitar pop. All the elements of great power pop are there : guitars are notey and jangly but with enough crunch to avoid sounding flat. The vocals are simple, catchy and delivered with a perfect cadence, the rhythm section is steady and solid and they sound like good friends that have been itching to do this for a hot second. Come In From The Cold is wedged in my head between Hyper Enough and Second Chance. Nice Company! Download it ,
buy their 7″, befriend them virtually and check them live if you are near these spots :
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Meet @ Redscroll Records for the secret location of the show!!! | Wallingford, Connecticut | ||
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All Music @ The Planview Shopping Center Parking Lot | Planview, New York | ||
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Tommys Tavern | Brooklyn, New York |
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