There are many things to love about the Band Of Skulls and most of those things can be found in the title track of their sophomore effort, "Sweet Sour." It's Zep-heavy, it's Black Keys hip, and it's got a hooky little refrain with some hooky little harmonies.
The Skulls are from England and they are all the buzz. I'm loving what I'm hearing, though I do have one complaint. They employ that two-part harmony trick on almost every song. That may not annoy you as much as it does me, but hearing it on the opener knocked me out. It was a great mix of hard rock grit and 60's psychedelia. By track 5, the bloom was off that rose, and it became a bit of a distraction. The Band Of Skulls have serious rocking abilities that seem to get sabotaged with their alt-country, Laurel Canyon singing.
Still, "Sweet Sour," from Band Of Skulls is kind of hot. The title cut and the new single "Bruises" sit below. What do you think?
9 comments:
The first one was interesting, but I'm loving "Bruises."
Good call, Sal.
Yeah I like this band a lot.
Sorry, it's not doing anything for me.
On a different note, what are your thoughts on the new one from the Heartless Bastards? (which by the way is a much better name than Clammy and the Half Shells!)I can't stop listening to it.
This band isn't half bad, pretty decent. I like the heavy crunchy guitars and the drums are recorded just perfect for a hard rock band of this sort. Could be a lot of bands that sound like this that are out there. King's X sort of comes to mind but without the Laurel Canyon vocals.
I've just downloaded a bunch of songs on Soulseek. But all in all my thumb isn't straining too much towards up. Good find and post.
What Steve S said exactly. I'm intrigued! These are the first two things I think I've heard from them, I need to really hear more, but I think I can already sense what you mean Sal about the harmonies. Time will tell, I will check out more. For some reason this made me want to listen to The Kills, which I am doing now. ;) Thanks for the Skulls intro.
@FD13NYC...
I know what you mean. I wanna like them more than I do. May have to go in slow. Enjoy these two tracks for a bit, then listen to something else and go back for two more. Still I like the sound.
@Kevin
NO real thoughts yet on the Bastards. I did like what I've heard, which is not much...yet.
Not knocked out on first listen but I'll give them another try. Maybe I'm hearing a bit too much of a Heart flashback...
But if you want to spread the word about some great under-buzzed English racket, maybe a post about the Jim Jones Revue that you tipped me to is in order.
Put me down for a big thumb's up on Bruises. Looks like these guys will be hitting Philly as they head east from SXSW in March...gotta check 'em out.
Also, let me second the shout out on your Jim Jones Review post. That band kicks some serious ass live. Don't miss them the next time around!
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