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CHOICE CUTS JANUARY 2003
The Latest & Greatest in Indie Music & Beyond
Album: Old Numbers The Scoop: It doesn't happen all that often: you're at a free show at the local club, waiting to see the headliner you're there to review, and along comes an opening band that makes your friend turn to you and say "Wow, these guys are pretty good." Would that The Ashtray Hearts open every show I attend! The Minneapolis sextet plays what they call "apartment music" (but what you probably call "alt-country"), and they find heartache waiting around every corner. A few of the songs toward the middle blend into one another a bit, but the best moments on the album suggest a band with the potential to be at the forefront of their genre. Content-wise, Old Numbers is in some ways a good break-up album, although it's not recommended for those looking to make a clean break. Things are more complicated here; essentially, the album is about failures who fail each other, only to be drawn back to one another, to be left thinking about the other, time and time again, year after year.Highlight Tracks: "Disaster" and "Country Bar" For More Info: Check out http://www.freeelection.org Artist: Capitol Years Album: Jewelry Store EP The Scoop: A long, long time ago-back when I was a hotshot rookie in the Entertainment Today clubhouse-I chose Meet Yr Acres from The Capitol Years as my first review for the paper. It was a great, genre-blurring album-sometimes messy, always melodic-and my favorite songs were the quiet ones. Road trip songs. Last beer songs. Then I went down to San Diego to see the band in concert. Their label warned me. Frontman Shai Halperin himself warned me: Things on the album are not necessarily how they appear on the stage. And sure enough, while I was expecting acoustics and maybe an occasional harmonica, instead I got a spastic rock and roll spanking. The Capitol Years-Halperin especially-played the little club like it was the Coliseum, stomping, screaming, posing and leaping. "Who's this guy think he is?" some stiff at the bar asked. "Roger Daltrey?" Probably not, but Halperin could be forgiven for having an identity crisis. Critics, myself included, found all sorts of delicious parallels on the first album. He was Beck...no, Robert Pollard...no, a Harrison and McCartney hybrid. The influences were there for all to see. Capitol Years make it little harder on the critics with Jewelry Store, which dispenses entirely with the slower numbers and charges ahead with grungy retro pop. It takes about three spins through the 20 minute EP for the balls-to-the-walls guitar riffs and delirious shouts of "wooo!" to take you and your subconscious hostage. Producers Thom Monahan (whose credits include L.A. alt-country faves Beachwood Sparks) and Brian McTear capture an impressive chunk of the band's frenetic live energy. They also deserve kudos for knowing when to stay out of the way; there's not a slick or overproduced moment on the album.
The copyright of the article Choice Cuts: January 2003 in Indie Music is owned by **. Permission to republish Choice Cuts: January 2003 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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