Rush-released as a response to the pleas of their fans after announcing their indefinite hiatus, this album is a collection of eight songs from their unfinished album, and two acoustic songs that had very very limited releases as bonus tracks in the past. Considering that, this sounds incredibly coherent and, on top of that, really fucking good. This release has the singalong choruses of E. Von Dahl, the white knuckle, crooked smile, freewheeling insanity of Decomposer, the pop catchiness of A Band in Hope, and a bluesy, jammy grooviness that if anything resembles their earliest work as the Locals. But make no mistake; this is not rehash. This is the Matches doing what they always do, which is making a huge stylistic shift while still being identifiable as who they are.
I wrestled a bit with the question of whether or not to post this album here. As stated earlier on the blog, the Matches are my favorite band, and it's now become clear they are under a considerable amount of debt based on poor album sales (I've seen a figure of $60,000 being tossed around). However, as much as it feels like something of a betrayal, not even my favorite band breaking up because of people failing to buy their music is going to change my opinion that there should be no moral obligation to spend money on art (an opinion that the Matches seem to have somewhat agreed with in the past, and that I suspect they still do).
With that in mind, I IMPLORE you all, if you enjoy this album or any of their others, to purchase it at bandcamp. They're only asking 10 dollars (although you can pay more than that if you wish), which is next to nothing. This band doesn't deserve to be in debt, and they don't deserve to have to break up because of it. Buy this album. Also, if you can, go to their last two shows on the 22nd and 23rd, in West Hollywood and San Fransisco respectively.
Also, I'll use this post to introduce you to the new projects members of the Matches are embarking on, for those of you who are unaware.
Maniac: Features Matches lead vocalist/guitarist Shawn Harris, as well as Jake Grigg of Something with Numbers. Their debut album is slated for 2010, and in the meantime they're occupying themselves with covering the #1 songs on the Billboard charts (and then posting them for free on their blog).
Bird by Bird: Features Matches lead guitarist/vocalist Jon Devoto, as well as Matches drummer Matt Whalen. Their debut show is happening in San Fransisco on the 21st, and Jon's doing an in-store performance at a Gap on the 20th, so if you're in the area, check them out! They've got a few songs streaming on their myspace.
Anyway, as you can tell, I've returned home, and regular posting will now resume on the blog.
Myspace
Try It
Previous Posts:
E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals
Decompser
A Band in Hope
Demos and Misc
1 comment:
I dont know if this is as good as the matches other cds. I personally think decomposer was the best but its still sad that their done and im definately downloading this so thanks.
Post a Comment