Thursday, January 31, 2008

Young Livers - The New Drop Era

Young Livers - The New Drop Era
No Idea Records



Young Livers are from Gainesville. Young Livers have a record on No Idea. They are inspired by Hot Water Music. That should be enough to really tell you all you need to know about this record. But, in the sake of fairness, I'll go into a bit of detail.

This 8 song EP (?) definitely flew under my radar in 07, despite a lot of people telling me about them, and doing a string of dates with Jena Berlin. I missed them at Fest, and didn't really give their record the attention it deserved until pretty recently. As I said above, there is a definite Hot Water vibe at times, but overall it's a bit faster and darker than Hot Water Music. There are pretty much two consistently different guitar parts throughout, and octave leads and feedback builds give it a deep, dark feeling. The bass is fuzzy, but plays a strong role in the atmosphere of the album.

Vocally, it's the gruff, cigarette and whiskey school of vocals that No Idea is famous for, with a very heavy edge. At times, the vocals remind me of Damian from As Friends Rust (especially in "Drinks are Our Amnesty") in both tone and delivery. There's a sense of urgency and bearded tension throughout as vocalist try to top each other for volume and gruffness.

This band definitely appears to be road warriors, so I'm sure they'll be around soon. Their newest tour doesn't seem to come too close to Philly, which is a bummer, but I'll have to find a way to see them soon. This is a solid debut, certainly worthy of coming out on No Idea and catching a good amount of praise.

1 comment:

kevsomm said...

i expect a strange wilderness review on my desk by tomorrow