July 27, 2011

The Features - Wilderness (2011)

Simply put, The FeaturesWilderness is a fantastic rock n’ roll album. One of the best that I’ve heard all year. The standout single "Rambo" kicks off with cinematic humming before launching into a charging rhythm and swirling keyboard, the song marching forward over the cries of singer Matt Pelham. The darker “Kids” rides a 70s metal bass line and kick drum through a cloud of heavy riffs. The album is solid from start to finish, subtly shifting from psychedelic pop to prog to garage rock, often multiple times within a song. If it wasn’t clear from the album’s diverse (if classic) influences, the sweet and steady “Fats Domino” is the ballad for a record collector: “You can have everything, except my rock n’ roll, my love / Put down Fats Domino.” It’s right up there with Ryan Adam’s “Come Pick Me Up” in terms of capturing the state of a relationship relative to a mans’ vinyl.

You can bet I'll be there when they play at Bunk Bar on September 17th.

2 Comments:

awmercy said...

The Features, P.TM and Black Lips are making this a good summer for rock n' roll.

awmercy said...

The Features explain every song off the album at Paste.