¤ jetless heights

+ Mon, December 13

Mates Of State

At the time, I was without voice online.  Last May, of course, when I saw The Strokes.  A helluva show, complete with the requisite Bad Opener.  That pleasant spring night brought Mates Of State into my life.  At the time I wanted to say that they were like a pure dose of annoyance, marred only by an occasional speck of melody.  But then again, I had no online venue to speak from and with time the relevancy of the subject passed.

Three independent nudges of “Hey Phil, have you heard of this band?” later, the subject becomes relevant again.  Dan Cederholm links to their videos and quips, “Prediction: this band will be big in 2005.”

I have to admit, yes, I agree.  I would add though, “Followup Prediction: this band will be completely forgotten in 2006,” and ask you to watch the video for “Ha Ha” as our grounds for explanation.

There’s this uniqueness to their sound that I feel they adapt well to video.  “Spastic” is a good word for it.  The tempo swings wildly.  The synthesizer loops through one melody for extended periods and then abruptly changes.  The drumming makes Meg White look exceptionally talented.  Melodies are stumbled upon suddenly only to be even more immediately abandoned.

This is what makes their sound unique and through it all, it’s damn catchy.  Dan may very well be right - though I wouldn’t write it off as certainty yet - but supposing he his, I’ll bet that my prediction will follow shortly.

5 people have chimed in.
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1 → steven vore  –  (Dec 13 2004, 11:27 PM)

Hmmm… The Strokes, as in Room On Fire? My son just got one of their CDs out from the library. He didn’t think much of it, but said I should take a listen. It’s in my ‘take to the car’ pile for tomorrow morning’s commute.

an interesting coincidence.

2 → pd  –  (Dec 13 2004, 11:29 PM)

The very ones.  Personally, I’ve gone through periods where I couldn’t get enough of Room On Fire.  Not too hot on Is This Is? anymore, but that’s mainly because of what I’ve seen they’re capable of these days.

3 → Alec  –  (Dec 14 2004,  1:04 AM)

Now, maybe if I can nudge you towards the Microphones…

4 → pd  –  (Dec 14 2004,  1:05 AM)

Now that one I am still open to nudging from you about…

5 → steven vore  –  (Dec 14 2004, 10:31 AM)

post-commute comment on Room On Fire: I’d rather it balanced differently - the vocals are hidden behind too much bass - but otherwise pretty good tunes.






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