Monday, February 22, 2010
The Spin Surfer Blood & Turbo Fruits at The End, 2/20/2010
Posted by The Spin on Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:12 AM
Check out the slideshows for more photos: Surfer Blood & Turbo Fruits; Cy & Holiday Shores.
Considering the fact that we've been spinning Surfer Blood's debut Astro Coast pretty relentlessly for the past few weeks, checking them out at The End Saturday night with Turbo Fruits was basically a no-brainer. As it turns out, every blog-reading 18- to 22-year-old in Nashville had roughly the same idea. It truly was one of the youngest crowds we've come across in a hot minute, complete with the sort of hot stink you can only get when a standing-room-only crowd of proto-scenesters inundates one of our two favorite Elliston Place establishments.
Infinity Cat's Cy Barkley kicked things off at precisely 10 p.m. with a brief set of sloppy, by-the-books three-chord punk rock. Cy & Co. had apparently suffered some sort of gear issues, but thanks to an equipment loan from hometown heroes Turbo Fruits, they breezed through their set with no hitches.
In their last performance after a series of dates with fellow Floridians Surfer Blood, Tallahassee's Holiday Shores played a mostly tight set of their busy, sunshine pop- and Afrobeat-influenced indie rock. Though some songs were melodically interesting, they sounded more than a bit like a certain overhyped, vampirically monikered Cape Cod-centric outfit that shall remain nameless, and thus we spent the majority of their set at the bar listening to an equally entertaining story about Robert Plant taking a shit.
After seemingly having a pain in the ass of a time ordering drinks at the bar -- sorry kids, no liquor in this joint -- the surprisingly youngish-looking Surfer Blood took the stage. With exuberant, "Wow! I can't believe this many folks like us!" countenances, the boys from West Palm Beach led off with the satisfyingly ambitious complicated-youngster-love anthem "Floating Vibes." We have to say, though it was a cool move to dole out tambourines for an auxiliary rhythm free-for-all during "Take It Easy," that's kind of our jam, and the novices nearly ruined it for us. Though their set was a little front-loaded, Surfer Blood's Pixified take on Weezer riffs certainly didn't disappoint us. That said, the youngsters might just need a couple more years and a couple more albums for us to suss out whether or not their hype is indeed fully deserved. But as far as their debut is concerned, we're thinking it's safe to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Comments (7)
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If you don't like Vampire Weekend then why the fuck do you like Surfer Blood's new album? Aside from "Swim" (the best song Weezer never wrote), Surfer Blood is basically Vampire Weekend with generic indie-pop songwriting and uninteresting instrumentation. I guess it is a little more lo-fi; that too often seems to trick people into thinking it's good.
Good lead guitar player; great vocal melodies. No, Surfer Blood don't have djembe and shit, but they certainly aren't lo-fi. They don't cram overwrought "Hey! We listen to world music!" nuances into their music. Holiday Shores, like Vampire Weekend and the Robert Plant shit story, try a little too hard and thus can only be mildly entertaining at best. The people who have heard what VW/HS/RP shit story are referencing/cribbing can only listen for so long.
Could someone enlighten me about what is so terrible about Vampire Weekend? I like their stuff and it seems like they're just getting predictably ripped on by the indie train.
Hearn, there is of course always going to be a backlash when a band attains the sort of hype/response Vampire Weekend has. A lot of people go the reactionary route, saying "These guys are the worst. They rip off Paul Simon, who was ripping off Afrobeat. At least Simon did it well." I think that's a little harsh, considering the fact that Vampire Weekend can play well and write good melodies.
At the same time, I think the thing that makes a lot of audiophiles mad is that 17-year-olds who have never even heard of guys like Fela Kuti are now listening to a band that is a super-Westernized version of that music. Personally (and I'd have to say the Spin writer would agree), I think Vampire Weekend is fine. I can take them or leave them (mostly leave them), but because they're enormously successful, they garner a more intense response from serious music listeners. It may occasionally be unfairly intense, but they're also rich now, so they'll be OK.
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