2014-07-20
French Style Furs is Nathan Willett and Matt Maust from Cold War Kids, with Nathan Warketin from the band, We Barbarians. (Also included are guests on percussion, vocals, and horns.) This L.A. band wrote the lyrics for debut, Is Exotic Bait, based on the poetry of 20th century monk, Thomas Merton. The album starts out promising with distorted vocals and fuzzy guitar on opener "Three Friends". It rocks even more with sludgy bass adding to the mix on second track, "All the Way Down". At this point I am liking it. However, on track three, "The World in My Bloodstream", things get a little sketchy. As the worst track on the album, it introduces keys and heartfelt lyrics to make a pop song like any other. The rest of the disc, while still sometimes offering garage rock overtones is still hit or miss until ninth track, the rocker "Christmas Card" redeems it. Rebecca Ruth
ARK LIFE
THE DREAM OF YOU & ME
Brett Mitchell
Small House
THE ALIENS
Astronomy For Dogs
Serena Ryder
If Your Memory Serves You Well
Peter, Bjorn & John (PB&J)
Living Thing
NUTTIN BUT STRINGZ
Struggle From the Subway to the Charts
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