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There has always been something exciting and dangerous about the bull-in-the-glass-house style of spazz rock espoused by groups like Austin’s White Denim. While there is something to be said for order and structure, journeying to new rhythmic grounds is far more fun, especially in a live setting. The trick is to remember the way back home, and with the local trio’s new full-length and first album to receive a proper US release, Fits, it becomes patently obvious that the group didn’t bring a compass.
Starting with opener “Radio Milk How Can You Stand It,” the band kicks off in high gear, with a crunchy overdriven bass line by Steve Terebecki that effectively turns the keys to the band’s ignition. James Petralli’s voice cuts in with a bluesy talk-sing that captures the mood of the song, keeping a slick sound even over turbulent rhythms. However, after the first few minutes, a sax line falls into the mix, backed by repetitive pounding on the cymbals, and the song seems to lose track. It’s nice to see alternative instrumentation, but the change leaves the listener unsatisfied.
“All Consolation” will remind one of “Exposion” in vocal style and sound, with swirling distortion swelling under a sea of reverbed voices. While the band seems fond of this sound, it removes any connection between the listener and Petralli, making the singer disembodied, and, unfortunately, unimportant. Having a front man with such an infectious personality, it seems odd to drown him under effects. “Say What You Want,” however, reintroduces the hard-squawking blues vibe into the album, and is one of the strongest tracks on the album. Gentle use of keyboard adds to the determined but positive feel of the song before the whole track breaks down into Beatles nostalgia. Sitar-sounding guitar lines give way to eastern polyrhythms that give drummer Josh Block time to shine; and shine he does. As the most technically proficient member of the band, his accents and breakneck pace give Fits its name, and despite another down-the-rabbit-hole change of direction in the second half of the song, this time the track seems successful.
White Denim has never been known for lyrical depth; Fits simply reiterates this fact. Petralli still seems unable to grasp the role of his singing in the band, and often simply stays quiet. In “El Hard Attack Dcwyw,” he switches to Spanish for a stanza, which actually works well - since the listener isn’t too attached to his English expressions and adding a bit of mystery to his meaning isn’t a bad move.
Lead single “I Start to Run” lives up to its job, and is reminiscent of a slower version of “All You Really Have to Do” off of Exposion, revealing that perhaps the band does have an underlying formula for their madness. Inexplicably, the Denim throws in some truly atrocious sounding synth drums that do nothing to help the otherwise solid song. The audience would be well advised to learn to tune out the little synth pings as quickly as possible.
“Sex Prayer” is an odd instrumental bit that is interesting, but wholly unexciting. It sounds like the soundtrack to a 70s mystery movie; one can almost imagine a PI slowly rifling through files in an office building at night, but why would we want to? As he croons in, “Everybody Somebody”: “Think I better take my time/ before I make a decision”. Denim, and especially Petralli, should heed his own advice, because at this point the album falls into a morass of filler for almost 12 minutes.
Fortunately, there is a payoff to this tangential meandering: “Regina Holding Hands,” a slow and soulful ode to 60s R&B, stands as the most unexpected hit from all of Fits. Petralli’s voice dips and dives melodically, summoning up all the Al Green he can muster and pulling it off with style and spiritual sexiness to spare. Of all the countless directions the band goes on their latest LP, this stands alone as the most promising.
While Fits does too much to remind us that White Denim is still throwing tantrums in it’s infancy, a few very strong tracks help give promise of a bright future and credence to the hype. Petralli, Terebecki and Block may have found out how to be comfortable in their own skins, but they need to do more to make the audience more at ease with their fractured explorations so that we can all manage to make it back home again.
Websites:
http://whitedenimmusic.com
Myspace
[...] Definitely worth a look, but not what the fans were hoping for. The hype may have killed this one before it launched. Here’s a clip and a link to the full review. There has always been something exciting and dangerous about the bull-in-the-glass-house style of spazz rock espoused by groups like Austin’s White Denim. While there is something to be said for order and structure, journeying to new rhythmic grounds is far more fun, especially in a live setting. The trick is to remember the way back home, and with the local trio’s new full-length and first album to receive a proper US release, Fits, it becomes patently obvious that the group didn’t bring a compass. (Read More…) [...]
i totally agree evan. the thousands and thousands of europeans who have given this band their supposed “high” profile could use a lesson from an authentic “live music capitol of the world” dwelling music aficionado like yourself. i hope that some of them are lucky enough to read this, change their minds, and then maybe white denim will go away for good or at least learn how to find their way back home before they put out another record. just like you said.
i give your review 10 stars. though if i were you, i would’nt have listened to or reviewed this record in the first place. too much hype y’know. i almost have to hate it based on that alone. when is the next amplified heat gig? hope to see you there.
Thank you for the kind words, affectionate stalker-type.
Bah. You all don’t know good music if it hit you in the head. You’re just jealous your wannabe Coldplay band isn’t getting the attention you think it deserves. I bet The Soldier Thread is your favorite Austin band isn’t it?
When was the last time you actually got hit in the head with music? That’s a dumb statement. Seriously.
Also, when people criticize a review and try to claim that the reviewer is jealous and/or in a shitty band, the take away to me is that the anonymous criticizer is jealous that he or she can’t write for a local website much less Rolling Stone. Plain and simple, you’re too scared to write a review (glowing or otherwise) and put your name to it. How do you like them apples, chickenshit?
We all don’t know good music if it hit us in the head? Auk. That’s not even a grammatically correct statement!
Help, white denim splooge is clogging my conditional mood!
stanley, you are right. music can’t hit you in the head. doi. what a dummy. i also bet that anonymous chickenshit manup is the scared one here and does not like them apples. i for one believe that being a music reviewer takes just as much bravery and thought as writing and recording and releasing records. i am sure that this is the reason why there is an st. between this reviewers two names and he does this job in his spare time for free.
or maybe evan st. john is a fake name kitten butt. i think the record is pretty good and hope the band does well.
ttyl
Hey Taco,
If you want to ignore a band because they are too hyped maybe you shouldn’t comment on their review.
I think it takes more talent to write a review than it does to create music. Case in point: on any given night, how many people are writing CD reviews vs standing on the stage at the Dirty Dog playing in an awesome funk band?
Exactly.
I win.
Oh, and I think White Denim’s music ain’t that interesting and they should stop shopping at American Apparel unless they’re going to start wearing less deep V necks and more gold lame tights. Yeah yeah yah!
They’re not the best band in Austin, but they’re not the worst either. I think the hype hurts them and helps them in equal measures. The hype helps them get big shows and sell records, but it also makes people who personally don’t like their music get violently angry about any success the band might have.
Does this band dress like textbook uber-hipsters? Yeah. Are the fans textbook uber-hipsters? For the most part. But don’t judge a band by its fans. That’s lame. Personally, I’m not a fan but I can see why people would like White Denim. For me, I listened to the album once and I have no desire to listen to it again. I’m a fan of similar local bands, like Harlem. But White Denim’s songs just don’t do it for me. They’re missing something.