In general, I'm not really an enthusiastic fan of the whole "chillwave" aesthetic that's been percolating through the indie rock scene of late, but these guys are a notable exception. No Joy share the themes (beaches, summer, drugs, girls) and sonic influences (90's lo-fi, shoegaze, Weezer, more Weezer, Beach Boys, Dick Dale, more Weezer) of other chillwave bands like Real Estate and Surfer Blood. No Joy are on arguably the premier label for chillwave, Mexican Summer, whose roster also includes Best Coast and Wavves. No Joy distinguish themselves with a more muscular sound, which they achieve by jacking up the low end in their mixes and maintaining an often aggressive sounding juxtaposition of thick and murky rhythm guitar and bass with piercing leads and distorted vocals. It also helps that their drummer beats the shit out of her (his?) kit instead of relying on brushed snares and weird mixed percussion gimmicks we see from other chillwave percussionists, and is consistently locked in with the bassist. This sound is exemplified on one of the album's singles, Hawaii (posted above), on which the song's catchy hook establishes itself until about 0:14 in, when the drums and bass drop in behind a squalling exclamation point of feedback. The track that preceeds Hawaii, Pacific Pride, is a good example of the other end of No Joy's sonic spectrum; a quick, quiet, drone-y beach ballad that is slower and quieter, but just as enjoyable as the faster Hawaii. In short, this album's composition is diverse in a way that doesn't feel forced, but with consistent sonic themes running through all of the songs, so if you like one song, you'll probably like them all to some extent. In short, Ghost Blonde is worth forty five minutes of your life, get on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment