The Palma Violets 180: Having an Organ Player Doesn't Mean You Sound Like the Doors. This is a Good Thing.

So we’re going to kick off this review series I've promised you all with something we all love and that is a band from the U.K.

I had read a review of this new band the Palma Violets and their debut album 180 (this is where some smartass will point out the fact they’re not new and the album came out last year or something in the U.K.. It’s new here buddy, and as you can tell by the delays in this blog, time is not something I have a lot of these days so scouring the British music scene isn’t at the top of my list) and the couple of tracks I heard sounded pretty solid so I picked it up.
At first, I wasn’t impressed.  It’s basically what you’ve come to expect from indie music (is that term really applicable these days?  Does it exist?) which is a low fi, garage rock sound.  Heard it.  Been there, done that. Right?  Well, I continued to listen to it and the more and more I did, the more and more I liked it.  Actually that’s an understatement.  I rocked the hell out of this album.  There are a couple of duds in the middle but even those have grown on me (they’ve got this stupid song called Chicken Dippers.  I don’t know if I don’t like the song or if I just hate the title.  Horrible).  But the album starts really strong with an opener that is a great bar sing along type of song, followed by 2 more really good tracks that will get even the guy that doesn’t drink to pick up an air guitar.  The last 3 songs do a great job of closing the album (this is something we might be losing with the invent of itunes and demise of the record.  The closing track of an album.  Love that shit).  Also, with the new music I’ve been buying I’ve done it all on LP. This album sounds much different on LP versus MP3.  Don’t just listen to it on your iPod, throw it on the turn table and crank it to 11.  The drums and bass sound like they might be in the next room.
So this sound I described earliar of low fi, garage rock got popular over here with the Strokes 12 years ago or so and over in the U.K. got popular with the Libertines.  Because it’s such a simple sound it’s very easy to sound like one of those 2 bands depending on your accent and get kind of boring after a while.  Hence why nobody listens to the Strokes anymore (including the Strokes themselves) and why the Libertines broke up (it’s worth noting that a signifgant amount of crack may have played a role in the latter).  But the Palma Violets have found a way to make the album sound different from what we’ve (I) come to expect and I think it’s mainly due to the vocals.  I think they somehow make it so it balances the right amount of sloppy, chaotic, trainwreck sound that makes rock fun but gives it something more solid or pretty.  Does that make sense?
Okay lets try this.  One of the reviews said this: “Violets play proudly sloppy rock‘n’roll that unapologetically draws from the most obvious sources imaginable for a young band from London: the Clash, the Velvets, the Doors, a little Springsteen, Oasis’ Definitely Maybe, Clinic’s Internal Wrangler, the first couple of Libertines singles.”  This came from Pitchfork, which tends to be one of my main sources for new music and the bane of my existence at the same time.  This is wrong.  Wrong, wrong, wrong. Fucking wrong.  Where the hell does this album sound like anything from Definitely Maybe? I love Oasis as much as the next guy.  Actually, no that’s wrong.  I probably love Oasis more that any guy in a 20 block radius of my home and love bands that sound like Oasis.  Palma Violets sound nothing like Oasis.  We’re they influenced.  Of course they were.  They’re fucking British!  Any person from England born in the last 30 years has been influenced by Oasis.  Wonderwall is like the unofficial national anthem over there.  But they don’t sound like Oasis.  And the Doors?  The fucking Doors?  Why because they have an organ player?  So basically if Prince Harry put out an album of church music strictly played on the organ, Pitchfork would give it a 5 and say it sounds like Oasis meets the Doors.  The Palma Violets sound nothing like the Doors.  You know why?  Because the Doors are horrible and the Palma Violets are not.  You don’t just throw comparisons to the Doors around okay?  You only save that for when a band is truly shitty and you want to warn someone.
Okay, lets circle back to what I was trying to point out before before I went off track (see above (sloppy, chaotic, fun, vocals, blah blah).  Here’s an accurate description of the Palma Violets album 180.  Imagine if Iggy Pop and Ian Curtis from Joy Division somehow figured out a way to have a baby together and it was a boy (this would be impressive on many levels).  Lets say this boy then somehow figured out a way to become the lead singer of either Luna or Yo La Tengo.  Then you would have the Palma Violets 180.
See that’s all you had to say Pitchfork.
Check it out.  It’s good shit and I think they’re at Lollapalooza this year so you’ve got no excuse not to see them.  Unless of course you’re like me and not going to Lollapalooza.  Then you have a valid excuse.