Did this once before with North Carolina bands, but Florida is deep and wide. So all of the bands have the qualifier of "right now." There is no blood from surfers, no people that I'm against! and all of this is subject to change if Further Seems Forever gets back together in the next 24 hours...
Part St. Pete bar band, part Americana innovators, Have Gun Will Travel's Postcards From A Friendly City was recently adopted by Suburban Home Records. No excuse not to find these guys.
Greetings From Levy Park, the Only Thieves rocking debut is so good, but I originally thought they were from Jersey. Guess it was the album title. Have no fear, they rock it right in Tallahassee, snap!
I got Wooden Teeth when someone accidentally gave it to me. I soon realized how much Lujo Records and I see eye to eye. Word is, new album from Lakeland's Mouse Fire in May.
Look Mexico: "You're Not Afraid of The Dark Are You?" This kind of messes up my list, because according to this article most of the band is moving to Texas next week. Surprisingly, their old stuff is lighter and more mature than their new stuff, which is more straight ahead punkish-rock. Soon, indie rock kids at Florida State will say..."Look Mexico was so chill. We used to hang out with them all the time before they were on the radio..." Their new album comes out in March. See their tour dates here.
I just discovered John Ralston in the last few months, but I knew John Ralston. A Legends of Rodeo song popped up on iTunes and I was like, "dang they are so legendary...what happened to them? To where have they RECESSed?"
Soon, I found the John Ralston MySpace page and hooked myself up with the album Sorry Vampire. It came out a few years ago, and he's had an EP since then...but expect more becaue my THEORY is that he's heating up again.
Only Thieves Greetings From Levy Park, T.L.H Self-released, 2009
There's something instantly likable about Only Thieves--a je ne sais quoi that makes them instantly memorable. Can't put my finger on it. On the tip of my tongue. That same quality that made Hey Mercedes, Nada Surf and The Promise Ring bands to admire. An unimpeachable optimism that shines through even when singing about horrible badness. An ability to transmit bounciness while sitting still. Don't know what it is---the charisma, the ineffable "knack"--but Only Thieves has it.
It's appropriate to review this EP this time of the year, the first song is titled "Hammered for the Holidays," a tongue-in-cheek song about a treacherous drunken trip down the interstate and late for Christmas. This is a punk band in the loosest sense, a crowded bar rock band-type that is capable of playing the hits while making their own shine through. "Hammered" will be added to the canon of ironic holiday songs, the tradition laid by "Grandma Got Ran Over By Reindeer" and that Adam Sandler has maximized. The third song, "Watertower Scars" is perfectly suburban, perfectly real and again perfectly bouncy, making rock better for being pop. "Ghosts In Your Bedroom" and "I Got Left Behind" kind of makes me want to clap or at least slap someone repeatedly on the back--the repetitive intros sets the pacing up perfect for making the chorus stick so well, two simple numbers done well.
All of this is wrapped nicely by "Does This Bus Stop at 8th Avenue?" an inquiring screed about familial love transmitted through transportation. Again with The Promise Ring, it's something right off of Nothing Feels Good and there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all, though the Thieves tone their distortion down. A solid 5-song EP that I've already returned to repeatedly. Only Thieves will be stealing our joy if they don't have a full-length hit soon. More after the jump...
