Best Not Hatin' of the Week PLUS Important Significant Late Breaking News

Listen, we know we can't judge a book by its cover. And we know records aren't books. (and we also know that mp3s aren't records) BUT good news, Best Coast's Crazy for You is as great as its cover.


What a cover.

Just look at that kitty.

Okay, now let's talk about this great record.

Well, first of all this record is great. 16 tracks of melodic female juvenile delinquent low-fi surf rock guitar pop, when looking for contemporaries, it's not too distantly related to the new Wavves record or a good part of Surfer Blood's Astro Coast (a record 80% as great as its album cover, btw) . . . listen, I barely understand what this bro-friendly genre of music called "chillwave" is exactly, but I think Best Coast is the first girl-lead chillwave group? But when looking for influences from the past, well, there are hints of everything good that ever was. Whoah. Wait. Sorry, that sentence was over the top. It's just that I'm listening to the record right now, to this song called The End and I'm suffering from a jangly girlgroup sound overdose. Here, listen. Please, have some sense and listen:



Now imagine 15 more songs like that one, but not exactly like that one, which are usually about sad things (mostly the feeling of missing) but won't make you feel bad because they've got lyrics like: "I lost my job/I miss my mom/I wish my cat could talk" (from Goodbye).

Here are times when it would be good to listen to this record: in the subway, on a walk, perhaps on a jog, definitely during a car ride, when alone, when in a group, while showering, while eating Mexican food (definitely), while eating noodles, oddly . . . right now I can't imagine eating a burger or pizza to it, at the beach (duh), in the evening and also around 9:00 am. These are just suggestions, you are welcome to think of your own times to listen to it.

And here's one more thing, a major thing: listening to this record it sounded so familiar . . . not just because I heard so many great musical influences coming through, there was something about the singer's voice. Something about that voice plus the music. Something that reminded me of driving my mom's minivan in High School. To this one girls' swim meet. And then it struck me: Best Coast sounds SO MUCH like the Muffs! From the 90s? You know. And after that clicked in my brain, holy smokes, I stopped hearing a garage rock record and started hearing a 90s record . . . a 90s garage record, perhaps, but. Whoah. This is like when I realized that Santogold's LES Artistes sounded just like a Tegan and Sara song and now I can only think of Tegan and Sara when I hear Santogold . . . except that's a connection that took me months to make, the Muffsmalarities came to me in under a day. It's almost all in Bethany Cosentino's (see, I just googled the name of the singer/brains of the outfit) voice . . . not as coarse or aggravated as the Muff's lady (oh, that would be Kim Shattuck, thanks wikipedia . . . but probably if I thought hard I'd have remembered her name was Kim) but there is this touch of brattiness there and that's where it all starts coming together and if you think about it long enough, as I did, you may only hear a Muffs record. A really great Muffs record from 2010.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Just found out that the name of the cat on the cover is Snacks AND Snacks was the model cat for King of the Beach. Whoah.

IMPORTANT SIGNIFICANT LATEBREAKING NEWS:

The Suburbs. The new Arcade Fire album. What do I think?


After one listen I remember nothing except there was a song called "Rococo" where they sing "Rococo Rococo" over and over. And that there was a song that sounded like a dance jam (these could have been the same song . . . I remember nothing).

I will return to the Suburbs again, but for now, this thing definitely doesn't grip onto you from the start like their other records (first record especially, duh).