- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: Hands And Knees
Album: Et Tu, Fluffy?
Label: Midriff Records
Playtime: 35:15 min
Genre: Indie
URL:
Rip date: 2009-04-28
Street date: 2009-04-28
Size: 47.24 MB
Type: Normal
Quality: 179 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
MassachusettsÆ Hands and Knees are your favorite bandÆs early years. You
know, those days when they were kinda rough and didnÆt bow to pop
sensibilities and record labels and ômoney?ö Because, letÆs be real, who
wants any of that actionà? Me.
But whatÆs great about Hands and Knees is they take all the cute rough and
evolve it into a whole sound in itself. They are that jangly, animalistic
fever rock that knows how to take good care of you. You can make love to them
and mosh with them. This is a good thing.
--- Knox Road
Hands and KneesÆ album Et Tu, Fluffy? looks like FunkadelicÆs One Nation
Under a Groove as done by the stuffed animals of the Boy Least Likely ToÆs
world. So naturally I had to immediately listen to it. I mean, how often does
that visual come along? It sounds, however, completely unlike either band,
but still really good.
I guess my best starting place for Hands and Knees is that they sound vocally
like old Modest Mouse, but maybe instrumentally more like Tapes n Tapes.
ôMidnight in the Applefieldö sounds like Blitzen Trapper (on their first
album) backing up Isaac Brock while theyÆre all slightly toastedà and it
sounds good.
--- You Ain't No Picasso
"Perhaps û and I hope! û directed at that cute little pink and white unicorn
on the cover, Et tu, Fluffy? isnÆt a question that looks like it will be
answered throughout the course of this Boston four pieceÆs sophomore album,
but thatÆs unimportant and probably impossible anyway, as unicorns canÆt
talk. The powerfully strong and throaty voice of Joe OÆBrien immediately
brings this album to life in the opening track, replete with jangling guitars
and a sort of swaggering rhythm. Later, bassist Carina Kelly joins him with
her sweet singing. The innate whimsical nature of Hands and Knees û from
their cute cover art to their charming, indie pop songs to the very name of
the band û conjures up memories of schoolyard songs: ôHead, shoulders, knees
and toes, knees and toes!ö Together with this and the appropriately happy and
rollicking songs like Hot Little Item the band brings a smile to your face.
ThereÆs a wonderfully ramshackle quality to songs like You Thought ItÆd Make
You Feel Better, and The Pixies-like women vs man, call and response set up.
Jittery and scratchy at times in sound quality, itÆs almost as if it were
recorded directly to tape and then transferred to CD again, though this gives
it a nice, warm familiar glow. Certain songs strongly resonate, like the
mournful Anywhere But Here, with its emotive, singular call. Do You Really
Need A Drummer? is perfect in its imperfect jump-start, electric elocution,
striking a special chord somewhere deep. But what really brings the whole
record up is the beautiful, slow-moving final track, Whatever Happened To
That Beautiful City? This band clearly likes posing questions, and they seem
deeply connected to place and to each other; this much is evident in the
swooning sighs of this song. Finger-picked guitar and stomping bass drums
riddled with soft harmonies and harsh vocal calls like those in Wolf Parade,
Les Savy Fav or even Collapsing Cities give this particular song a hardened,
genuinely lived quality. If you appreciate honest, rich, raw indie pop you
will most certainly enjoy the beautiful variety of Hands and Knees."
---Einstein Music Journal
"We receive dozens of albums each week and are offered more still digitally
through email each week... but it oddly makes sense that one of our favorite
new albums of 2009 comes from right here in Massachusetts... Meet Hands and
Knees - this completely indie and beautifully unpolished quartet are on the
verge of releasing, Et Tu Fluffy? - a vibrant eleven song album that has us
hoping this music group will be around for a very long time...The record
begins with the soft and diminutive Midnight in the Applefield, but let's
just say that while the song starts small - it doesn't stay that way for
long. Applefield has us wondering if the band was made up about a lovers'
rendez-vous or a secret party of friends - both of which might get heated up
as town goes on! Handclaps are a primary percussion element throughout the
album and they usher us into the album here.
"Et Tu Fluffy takes on it's modern indie/alt-country flavor with Hot Little
Item, a swirling, slowly climbing homage to a girl that I swear to god could
have come from Roy Orbison. Hands and Knees perform the pop-dipped in country
guitar track admirably. We can almost smell the whiskey and taste the dust
coming off the pickup on that winding country road... Very nice!
"Just when you assume you have things pegged, the band comes out with You
Thought It'd Make You Feel Better and A Great Pain and Blue Day Moon - 3
songs that are both more subtle and in some ways also far more frenetic and
indie rock than their two predecessors. This is no mistake, however, there is
more in the bottom envelope than I realized when I opened the mail. We
definitely hear bits of Murder Mystery and the Talking Heads on this trio..."
---Ryan's Smashing Life
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. Midnight In The Applefield ( 3:13)
02. Hot Little Item ( 3:39)
03. You Thought It'd Make You Feel Better ( 2:20)
04. A Great Pain ( 3:57)
05. Blue Day Moon ( 3:20)
06. You Got Pop You Got Style ( 2:53)
07. Anywhere But Here ( 2:37)
08. Do You Really Need A Drummer? ( 3:56)
09. We Are The Man Who Cannot Fly ( 3:36)
10. Shove It Up Your Heart ( 1:34)
11. Whatever Happened to that Beautiful City? ( 4:10)
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