When I write about an artist I usually try to evoke the sounds, ideas and feelings through words and not list influences. This is getting harder by the second particularly as we are now very late in the (rock) epoch. I'm only a couple of listens in but I'm really diggin'
She Beats. It's a guitar record. It's not really breaking any new ground but who is? My ears just love hearing those guitars and the melodies. They've definitely done stellar research*.
Beaches belong the lineage of
The Velvets/Stooges/Kraut/Hawkwind axis, the
Paisley Underground, 80s Sydney Rock (
The Church,
Died Pretty) 80s into early 90s
Flying Nun,
Proto-Shoegaze (ie.
Loop et al.)
Shoegaze, 90s
Kranky and instrumental groups from the USA like
Pell Mell &
Cul-De-Sac and the more recent
Yawning Man/Ten East. I have to say though with Beaches It feels more organic than that. This musical melting pot has been brewing in their DNA for some time and can't help but ooze out of them when they plug in and play. As opposed to a group like
Savages who seem to be mixing and matching influences like trying on clothes. IE. 'Does my
Wire match my
Siouxsie? Does my
Banshee look big in this?'
Beaches still haven't captured the immensity of their live sound on tape and one wonders if they ever will. Someone should give them hundreds of thousands of dollars so they can create their very own
Tusk or
Starfish. They must be special if I'm willing to let a track like
Granite Snake get past me as I swore a couple of years ago that if I heard another band being influenced by
Neu (
Neu are one of my all time favourite bands but does that mean every 2nd band should rip em off) I would smash the radio in. But
Granite Snake blows my fucking mind, it's incredible Who'd have thought we'd be listening to a band in 2013 that reminded us of
Opal, The Pale Saints or the
3Ds? Possibly the best record of its ilk since
Yawning Man's excellent
Vista Point from 2007 (yeah yeah I know Vista Point is a compilation of records made in 2005, whatever).
