Birds of Avalon Birds of Avalon
Bladen County Records
New horizons for Raleigh, North Carolina’s Birds of Avalon, who have parted ways with their old label, Volcom, and their old vocalist, Craig Tilley. But the Birds were always a band about the future anyway, so slight changes to their course shouldn’t really alter their ultimate destination, and they don’t, as this latest self-titled release proves (an album they’ve been sitting on for about two years). Combining experimental-era Beatles, 70s prog rock, and current hipster hullabaloo, Birds of Avalon finds the band on a freer, further plane, expressing a shift from the classic rock intensity found on earlier albums like Bazaar Bazaar toward an exotic, analog psych-pop sound full of accessibly translucent melodies, deep and heavy grooves, and fluent nerd-speak. Meaning it’s just weird enough to work, and works wonders where wanderlust and stardust are concerned.
The brothers Bird, the oft-shirtless duo from Illinois or outer-space, I can’t remember which, have returned with a proper full-length (as opposed to 2008′s seven-song Reservations), self-titled and much ado about everything. The knotty fuzz Tweak Bird is able to strangle out of drums and a baritone guitar is impressively grotesque; pair that with gamma ray vocals, some saxophone and flute, an appropriate obsession with Marc Bolan, and the knob-noodlin’ skills of the Deaf Nephews (Dale Crover of Melvins and Toshi Kasai of Big Business) and you get ten heavy, spacey, progressive pop blasts influenced by all the necessary evils. Tweak Bird’s design is such that they eliminate the need to linger, spoof glam over jam, and even though they offer two of their longest songs to date (“A Sun/Ahh Ahh” and “Distant Airways”), they still microwave the hell out of the stoner mandate and stomp all over the stardust. This album is as weird as it is wonderful — an outlier, a rare breed.
Check out the videos for “Lights in Lines” and “A Sun/Ahh Ahh” from Tweak Bird!
Year Long Disaster
Black Magic; All Mysteries Revealed
Volcom Entertainment
It’s always a real pain in the ass when someone tries introducing me to a band by saying, “they’re the best band you’ve never heard of” and that’s mostly because I have heard of them, and merely suggesting I haven’t heard of them insinuates that I, unlike the much cooler, more maligned you, have my bearded head buried deep inside the business end of a pregnant alpaca.
That being said, Year Long Disaster is the best band you’ve never heard of.
I know. I’m such a dick. But forget about that right now and just pay attention.
Birds of Avalon
Tweak Bird
Year Long Disaster