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New Rock Review (Vol. 1)

Tired of hearing the same old bands? There’s new music all around if you know where to listen. Here are a couple reviews of new albums by bands you may not have heard. Stay tuned for more reviews in the coming weeks.

The Asteroid Shop – Distant Luxury EP

Dark swagger seems to come naturally to the Asteroid Shop. Eric Brendo and Co. find the most success when they combine the heavy atmospherics with a driving beat and a good pop hook, as they do on the EP’s finale, “Hazy Love.” It’s a slow burn you can sing along to. The Austin band’s musical talent shines through on the other three songs (“Burn Out” in particular has a dreamy beauty to it), but they lack the pop punch needed to stick in your head. The smoky dance of title track “Distant Luxury” works to a point, but at 5:31 feels a couple minutes too long.  There’s some real potential here but a little more editing could elevate the Asteroid Shop to new heights.

Click here to listen to “Hazy Love.”

Deep Sea Arcade – Outlands

Like fellow Australians Tame Impala, Deep Sea Arcade combines bass-heavy psychedelia with hypnotic Lennon-esque vocals. Deep Sea plays up the pop side of the equation and the result is an album of catchy numbers that hum along in your head long after the album’s through. The single “Girls” is by far the best result, featuring a verse as catchy as the chorus.  Like a lot of debuts, the best songs are packed into the first half, but side B is no slouch. It can get better from here, for sure, but you walk away excited about what’s to come.

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Space Rock, Grounded

You might expect some serious space rock from a band called The Asteroid Shop. Song titles like “Planetary” seem to confirm the suspicion that you’re in for the kind of shoe-gazing guitar rock that might soundtrack a zero-gravity flight into the great unknown.

But band leader Eric Brendo (interviewed on this blog here) brings an earthy road-weariness to his baritone vocals and guitar work on this Austin, Texas band’s self-titled debut. While the album opens in space with the thundering “Destroyer,” by the second half The Asteroid Shop has landed in the dusty desert of the American West.  A lot of bands pick one sound and stick with it, so it’s refreshing to hear this band unplug the guitars and bring in instrumentation more common to the folk and country genres. The result is some real winners like the folksy “Ashes” and lovelorn “Silver Lane.”

The Asteroid Shop
Under the stars...

Not every song works and the album drags somewhat in the middle. The lyrics are unlikely to stick in one’s head and Brendo’s vocals are a little rough around the edges. The instrumentals are what’s compelling here. Atmosphere may be one the album’s greatest strengths, whether in the thundering bass of opener “Destroyer” or the shimmering guitar and synths of “Dandelion.”  They’re also not afraid to surprise with a quick tempo change, as they do to great effect with the groovy ’60s organ jam in the otherwise sleepy “Planetary.”  While not all the songs engage the listener, this is a promising album by a band that knows how to set a mood.

Download “Dandelion” for free right here.

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