Car Seat Headrest

48
Car Seat Headrest

Car Seat Headrest

Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 as a solo project in Virginia (now based out of Seattle) when Will Toledo made ten Car Seat Headrest albums in college, kinda’ like Led Zeppelin’s first four albums, he just used the number scale to title his albums. This music is super-lo-fi yet super-catchy. Toledo has said, "I probably would not have been able to make [those] album[s] if I had thought anyone was going to listen to it.” There is something raw and experimental about those records, like the early Animal Collective albums. He would record in cars, bathrooms, and other solitary spaces while recording those first ten records during college. In 2015, he signed with Matador Records and added Andrew Katz on drums, Ethan Ives on guitar, and Seth Dalby on bass. Now ten years in, the four piece is starting fresh with their 2020 release, Making A Door Less Open. The album, other than finds a shift in sound towards electronic, is their first new music since 2016’s major breakthrough Teens of Denial. [Side note: a last-minute cease and desist request from Rik Ocase after Toledo decided to cover a bit of the Car’s “Just What I Needed” at the end of Toledo’s song [“Just What I Wanted/Not Just What I Needed”] something his publishing company had previously signed off on resulted in Matador having to destroy a bunch of records. I know Ocasek is beyond the living now, but that was still a dick move.] Anyways, Teens of Denial is an amazing album. This is when I got on board. There was also 2011’s excellent Twin Fantasy, which kept it lo-fi (Toledo would go on to re-record the album with the full band in 2018) and 2015’s Matador debut Teens of Style which saw the gleams of genius to come in Toldeo and his band. This is a young band on the rise. Mister Toledo knows how to balance pop oddities with emotional directness. His lyrics are intelligent and self-aware. This is enjoyable music. Guitars meet lo-fi synths in this noisy, yet, tuneful indie rock project. It’s good to know people are still making direct rock ‘n’ roll. Raw! That is what rock is all about at its best…

It's…

Car Seat Headrest.

Comments

The Band

19 The Band The Band First known as the Hawks, the Band got their initial fame as Bob Dylan’s backing band. Remember when Bob Dylan sold out and went electric, angering fans so much that they called him “ Judas ”? Well, you can thank all of that to the Band. For a band that sounds so fucking American (seriously- no band has done the whole Americana roots music better than the Band) it’s pretty funny most of them were Canadian. After finally branching out on their own in 1968, the Band would release some of the best music ever recorded… and if you thought the Beatles had a hell of a run- check out the Band’s discography: 1968’s Music From Big Pink , 1969’s self-titled The Band , 1970’s Stage Fright , 1971’s Cahoots , 1972’s live-album Rock of Ages , 1973’s Moondog Matinee , 1975’s Northern Lights -Southern Cross , and 1977’s Islands. Lynard Skynard may have taken the crown for greatest southern rock band, but for a band full of Canadians and Americans, the Band really embraces a...

Crystal Castles

61 Crystal Castles Crystal Castles If you ever wondered what it would sound like if the video-game character Mario was catapulted through a plate-glass window- you'd get close to describing Crystal Castles. Cut up vocals and soothing waves of synth, live shows known for "fan riots, crowd surges, and metal barriers destroyed" Toronto electronic-punk-bleep-pop duo Crystal Castles is music that could only be made in the post-modern / post-millennium era, with a fan base that remembers the 8-bit era. Some dance music is meant to be played in the dark, but few dance bands bring their own darkness. This is dance music for sociopaths. Crystal Castles is the brain-child of Ethan Kath. The band began as a Kath solo project in 2003, but the producer recruited a 15-year-old Alice Glass to add vocals. Glass recorded rough soundcheck vocals for five tracks, which were secretly recorded by an en engineer, and Kath uploaded the material un der the name Crystal Castles. After rele...

Courtney Barnett

58 Courtney Barnett Courtney Barnett I first came on board with Courtney Barnett on her excellently titled debut album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit . Songs like " Depreston " and " Pedestrian At Best " spoke to my inner- nineties-child... someone who was just an infant during grunge and missed out on the prime years of that era- this was like a last-minute invitation to that party. Barnett has the energy of Nirvana with the pop sensibilities of Pavement. She first came on everyone's radar with the release of the song :Avant Gardener." If you l isten to " Avant Gardene r," an autobiographical account of trying to turn a life around through gardening, only to be foiled by a severe allergic reaction; it features some of the best lyric-writing in music today. There was something special about this Australian singer-songwriter. Like a grunge hangover. Few speak truth to mundanity quite like singer/songwriter Courtney Barne...

Bands That I Like

Search This Blog