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By: Wilfred Brandt
Date: 8th Aug 07
Release: Album
To Cure: A quiet weekend
What:
Carnavas
Who:
Silversun Pickups
On:
Sire
MySpace:
here
Remember guitars? Not angular, choppy, post-punk dance guitars, or echo-effects-laden no wave guitars. We mean BIG fuzzed-out power chords, walls of shimmering rhythms, molar-rattling basslines, and soaring, bending, screeching solos? Built To Spill, Smashing Pumpkins, Swervedriver - even My Bloody Valentine?
Silversun Pickups remember guitars and on Carnavas they put 'em to good use. Named after a liquor store in their native Silver Lake (a hipster enclave in LA), the quartet pump out pumped-up melodic rock with menacing vocals, swathes of distortion, driving-drowsy basslines, and big-hit drums. They can't seem to shake the early '90s comparisons and, yes, there is a striking similarity to Smashing Pumpkins (vocals especially). But to write them off as revivalists would be a waste. It seems that they're just practitioners of the sort of big guitar cock-rock that bands back then could pull off without having to mug self-consciously (a la Queens of the Stone Age) or sacrifice small children to Satan (a la Black Sabbath).
From the narcotic rumble of album-opener 'Melatonin', to the hair-raising ride of 'Lazy Eye', it's clear there's something undeniably cool going on. Bob along through the hooks and high hats, and get ready for the return of sonic assault. It was only a matter of time, really...