-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Cheatahs
Album...: Cheatahs
GENRE....: Indie
STYLE....: Shoegaze
LABEL....: Wichita SCENE.....: 2015-12-13
BITRATE..: 1021kbps avg STORE.....: 2014-00-00
ENCODER..: FLAC 1.2.1 -8 -V TRACKS....: 12
SIZE.....: 332.0MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheatahs
- TRACKLIST
1 I 0:41
2 Geographic 3:29
3 Northern Exposure 2:53
4 Mission Creep 4:56
5 Get Tight 3:24
6 The Swan 4:22
7 IV 5:11
8 Leave To Remain 2:56
9 Kenworth 6:03
10 Fall 3:23
11 Cut The Grass 4:09
12 Loon Calls 4:17
Total Playtime: 45:44
Cheatahs are fairly new on the scene, only starting to release music in 2012.
Specializing in laid back, fuzzy tones, their self-titled debut shows a band
that sounds more self-assured than one might expect. Songs like ôCut The
Grassö are engrossing and alluring, the distortion washing over the listener.
The greatest asset to Cheatahs is how inviting it all sounds, the
accessibility lending itself to experienced shoegaze fans and newcomers alike
coming together. Cheatahs are clearly most influenced by the late 80s/early
90s, letting Dinosaur Jr-esque guitar lines sneak into the proceedings from
time to time. The entire album comes off as both an emulation and a
celebration of that time. Despite traces of their influences popping up at
every turn, there is something about Cheatahs that is solely their own. The
application of influences, and their ability to mine every last ounce of
catchiness in their riffs, makes Cheatahs an enjoyable experience, and also a
fantastic introduction into the world of early 90s shoegaze and indie,
despite being released two and a half decades too late to take over college
radio station airwaves.
*
Just to get one blindingly obvious thing clear right off the bat here: if
youÆre a young band taking most of your cues from My Bloody Valentine, then
it probably behooves you to adopt a similarly bloody-minded attitude as Kevin
Shields when it comes to the idea of making concessions on volume or
intensity.
Last yearÆs Yuck record, Glow and Behold, was largely in thrall to the Irish
noiseniks, but succeeded only in offering up an imitation so pale that it
bordered on sacrilege. If you want to use deafening guitars to make something
beautiful, youÆd better have the energy to back it up. Cheatahs might not
have done anything especially new on their debut record, but theyÆve
delivered it in such incendiary fashion that itÆs impossible to ignore.
Even the cover of this album manages to channel Loveless; just as the
arrestingly lush pink hue of that artwork seemed, so intangibly, to correlate
to the sound of the record it prefaced, CheatahsÆ accompanying image - a
fiery rage of deep pastel reds in the desert - burns with the same vivacity
as the albumÆs 12 tracks. ThereÆs no question, then, that this recordÆs a
throwback, but itÆs hard to complain when a band manages to pack so many
different influential touchpoints into one album; think of Cheatahs as doing
for shoegaze-tinged rock what Parquet CourtsÆ Light Up Gold did for
Pavement-esque riffs last year.
Most of the record is built around a foundation of heavy reverb and washed
out vocals, but thereÆs plenty of nods to bands that didnÆt follow that
particular blueprint; thereÆs a touch of Eighties Bunnymen to the guitars on
æGeographicÆ, and closer æLoon CallsÆ toys with the sort of dainty guitar
lines that characterised so many albums by American emo bands of the
Nineties; Sunny Day Real Estate and American Football spring to mind pretty
quickly.
In fact, the relatively subdued nature of that last track provides evidence
that Cheatahs have a keen sense of where is best to ease off the gas just a
little; itÆs something that becomes increasingly obvious with repeat listens.
ItÆs those little nuances - the ambient two-minute outro to æKenworthÆ, the
gradual, lackadaisical progression of æMission CreepÆ, positioned right after
an blistering opening hat-trick - that set Cheatahs apart from so many other
records that wear their influences on their sleeve in similarly fierce
fashion. The last 90 seconds of æThe SwanÆ is plucked straight from
InterpolÆs æPDAÆ - guitars chiming over shimmering feedback - but the effect
is irresistible, however derivative it might be.
ItÆs actually surprising, all things considered, that bands like Cheatahs
seem to crop up fairly infrequently; bands that draw very heavily on
decades-old influences, but that do so with just enough guile, just enough
invention, that you canÆt help but be taken in by them. TheyÆve struck a neat
balance on this record between fast and loose punk rock - æNorthern
ExposureÆ, lead single æGet TightÆ - and more explorative territory, as
evidenced on slow-burning centrepiece æIVÆ. What permeates all of it, though,
is the genuinely overwhelming energy of youth - something that so many of
their contemporaries lack. And given that the My Bloody Valentine comparisons
are inevitable, I might as well state this for the record - nothing on m b v
grabbed me quite like this terrific debut has.
- DrownInSound
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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