My ipod has been thanking me continuously recently. It is fairly new and i’m in the arduous process of filling it with aural gems. That, by the way, is a more time-consuming task than filing away all those stacks of bills and statements I have gathering dust at home in my castle. Stacks of cds take ages to rip, convert and sync you know…..but that’s another day’s blog.
Anyway, I keep getting thank yous from my pod, largely because i’ve been listening virtually non-stop to The Airborne Toxic Event‘s self-titled album. In a word, it is class.
Fair enough, it may not feature on too many definitive Top 100 Albums Of All Time lists, but it’s a terrific prescription of uptempo, melodic tunes straight out of The Brilliant Trees and Whipping Boy‘s song-writing classes.
The five-piece hail from Los Angeles and got their name from a section of Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise. They are signed to Majordome Records, who also have The Von Bondies on their books.
Anyway, back to the music.
As well as sounding very much like the late 1990s Irish bands mentioned above, the band have a real Razorlight feel. All-in-all, The Airborne Toxic Event know how to blast out a roaring track with tremendous melodies.
Possibly the star attraction on the album is Sometime Around Midnight, which recalls a guy’s drunken night out in a bar and a piece of eye-candy he obviously yearns. The lyrics are very clever and the song builds and builds and builds with a powerful drum and bass combo.
The opening number, Wishing Well, offers a fast punchy beat – perfect opener. Papillon, which strangely has nothing to do with the Ted Walsh-trained horse who won the 2000 Aintree Grand National, has a very Nick Cave-sounding vocalist and has a very catchy melody. Gasoline hits you as being a very happy song — it’s very catchy and has a super riff.
The track Does This Mean Your Moving On? has a distinct Shed Seven aroma – it’s an uptempo song with some catchy lyrics.
Regretably, there are also two or three fairly forgettable album fillers on there that only die hard fans will be screaming for them to play at their gigs.
Nevertheless, the album overall is a winner. Their style, their lyrics, and the lead singer (who somebody said reminded him of Glen Hansard) should appeal massively to Irish audiences.
Get downloading my friends. Winner alright.
Ohsitdown, please 