Anyone who has hung out with me for any length of time within the last two months will not be surprised by today's post. I have been incessantly playing (some might say pushing) Birds and Batteries for friends, family members, and household pets. You know you love it, Pyro! As hinted at by the combination of the pastoral and the mechanized within the band's name, Birds and Batteries are something of a hybrid. Neil Young-style country is the obvious touchstone when it comes to lyricism and vocal stylings, a link made explicit by the opening "Heart of Gold" cover on the groups latest release, I'll Never Sleep Again. (And just in case you didn't quite catch that, listen for a nice cover of "Albuquerque" at the live show.) But thankfully, B&B are able to acknowledge their influences without being limited by them. If the plaintive pedal steel (and man do I love me some pedal steel) and rustic lyrics seem familiar, the synthesizers and drum machines that propel the songs forward certainly don't. It is just this collision that makes B&B so exciting and different--and what keeps me hoping that they continue to surprise us.
Birds and Batteries--Soft Surveillance
1 comment:
Have you heard Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings? They're pretty funky, soul group. They sound like something from decades ago, but are a pretty new group. If you haven't heard, you should check them out. I promise I'll check out this Birds and Batteries shit.
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