Store’s Closed!
With 8 commenters and 6 emails, I think we’ve arrived at 10 folks taking advantage and grabbing a copy of Yeah No by The Used Kids, so from this point onwards, you johnny-come-latelys better drop a five-spot in a donation on the band. Please?
One of the commenters in the other thread mentioned Nato giving a useful and helpful critique after listening to the commenter’s band open for The Modern Machines a few years ago. I definitely get that. If you listen closely to Yeah No you’ll hear a lot of spontaneous crazy energy popping through your speakers. Thing is, you’ll also hear all kinds of very “crafted” moments, where maybe all the instruments except the guitar and drums drop out, or where just the bass carries the melody for a few measures, etc. etc. You hear some killer middle eights and bridges and codas. In other words, The Used Kids are just as skilled at careful songwriting craftsmanship as they are in getting a glorious riot of sound in the recording. It reminds me a ton of how those on those early Replacements albums, Westerberg managed to showcase brilliant songwriting chops even while he and the Stinsons were beating the crap out of those same songs.
And now I realize that in describing the wonderfulness of The Used Kids debut, all I’ve basically done over the course of two separate blog posts is talk about how much they bear influence of other artists. Thing is, that really misses the point, and the point is this: I know of very few other bands out there right now who so intuitively get what makes a great rock and roll song, and then know how to deliver on that. The Used Kids walk that razor-thin line between songwriting craftsmanship and ragged glory better than any band on the planet right now.
Popnarcotic 