i love you, justin, but…um…didn’t i see you on a bushmills ad in the subway?

“drive-in saturday”! come on now. sci-fi doowop.

one of my favorite bands / albums of 2010. interviewed miss burhenn at her bell house show in june, she’s such a sweetheart.

oooh rufus <3

most underrated band of the 1990s. not a bad single — missing the neo-psych flourishes of tiny music & parts of purple, & this falls more in line with the melodic hard rock of no. 4 — but it ain’t bad.

fuckin’ a. PSYCHED about this.

blah. i really adore this band — talking through tin cans is one of my favorite albums of the best several years, so i’m not some morning benders-hating kill-joy — but i agree with matarese, this album is REALLY underwhelming. i wrote the upcoming record review over at popmatters, & as much as i like the band & as much as i wanted to give it a high score, with the exception of the opening 2 tracks it really is on the whole underwhelming. there’s no hooks at all to be found, chu’s songwriting is cripplingly undercooked, & his entire artistic approach just seems totally at odds with chris taylor’s production – which, don’t let me be misunderstood, is dynamic, detailed & quite pretty, but doesn’t mesh well with the benders’ overall style & aesthetic. don’t get me wrong, i love these dudes & hope they receive oodles of success off of this album, i was just — as a fan — really disappointed.

love it. such a breath of fresh air in an indie scene so obsessed with being “relevant.” you can tell these guys really live & breathe this music & have a genuine affection for the era they seek inspiration from.