Cheatahs
Cheatahs
(Wichita Recordings)
My old
friend Ken, one time way back in High School – probably spontaneously, as we
were about to begin a test in something like Geometry class – blurted out one
of his many invented jokes. He said: “I
hate taking tests at the zoo.” Of
course, what you may have already surmised is that this is not a good way to
set up a joke. There’s no inherent
response that such a statement will illicit, such as a ‘knock knock’ joke,
which universally brings about the response: “who’s there?” Somehow though, we were all tuned in enough
to set him up as he needed to bring about the punch line. “Why do you hate taking tests at the zoo,
Ken?” - came the response. “I always end
up next to the cheatahs.” And now, here
we are 25 plus years later and I am listening to the debut album by a band
named Cheatahs, before attending the
first stop on their first US tour here in Portland
tonight (2/22/14). I cannot imagine a
connection here, besides that they are using the term Cheatahs in the same
twisted context. Word has it that this
UK-based four-piece, comprised of an American, a Canadian, a Brit and a German,
coined the name because they were all involved with other projects, but were moonlighting
with each other as they formed this band.
Whatever the case, I’m glad they went the route they’ve chosen, because
their previous Extended Plays
collection (my 2013 #11 pick seen here)
and now this debut are dominating my music world.
As mentioned
in my review of Extended Plays, this
band dwells in musical styling’s that were guiding my days back in the early
90s. They could be ripped for being too
derivative, but I simply don’t care.
This new album contains a fire and passion and a quality that overcomes
everything. What I liked about the best
of the old “shoegaze” bands (a terrible UK press term thrown at a wide variety
of bands of that era, because their stage presence was too insular and not rock
star-ish enough for headline hungry writers) were that they acted as a complete
unit. All of the instruments (be it
guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals, etc.) were on equal footing. The songs were more about the whole
impression - a wash of noise that could somehow be loud and bold, dreamy and
atmospheric, and most importantly melodic, all at the same time! When bands such as Swervedriver, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, early Moose, Lush, Catherine Wheel, Pale Saints, Curve and
many many blew my freaking mind and expanded my horizons twenty plus years ago,
it was because they somehow encapsulated everything that I had previously loved
about music up to that point and pushed it to new territories. Cheatahs have brought this all back to me and
it sounds as fresh now as it ever did then.
For those
familiar with the band up to this point, the second EP Sans lead off track “The Swan” makes a triumphant appearance in all
of its huge pounding and soaring glory.
It has the same kind of vibe as Interpol’s
“PDA,” but not as dry and angular.
Also, both sides of their late 2013 pre-LP single emerge in fuller
forms. The “Son of Mustang Ford” careening
abandon and white hot riffage of “Kenworth” slowly dissolves into a floating in
space ambient conclusion, while the super catchy buzz and spooky keyboards of
“Cut the Grass” are allowed to come to a proper conclusion now, as the abrupt
fade-out from the 7” is corrected.
Meanwhile all of the new material blasts and swoons perfectly. The album
feels cohesive and flows naturally. The
new single “Get Tight” alternates a grinding power chord with each sung lyric
and manages to alternate between heavy rock, dreamy psychedelia, and catchy
three minute pop song. Elsewhere, the
opening mellow instrumental snippet of “1” explodes into “Geographic” whose
hard strummed guitar hook instantly puts this song into overdrive, while the
blistering and gliding “Northern Exposure” and its amazing chorus brings to
mind the inspiration that is Teenage
Fanclub’s “Star Sign.” The second
half of the album is the first real sign of their My Bloody Valentine influence,
as “IV” is rife with layers of see-saw off-kilter feedback waves over the top
of a stuttering shuffle beat. The album
closes with the most melancholic sounding song of the collection, “Loon Calls,”
which is also one of their strongest to date,
It’s always
difficult to describe what music sounds like, but it’s even harder when
everything fits together so well in these ‘washes’ of melodic sound. It takes so many listens to break apart
mentally each component’s importance to the whole. What I can say though, is that this is a lot
of fun to listen to and both of their CDs have been on constant repeat at home
and in my car for some time now. I do
not see that ending any time soon. Now
should I try and tell them Ken’s joke sometime before or after their
performance tonight? Probably not.
Cheatahs "Get Tight"
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