Followed By Static – “Smiles” b/w “Bones” (Sundae) / Followed By Static/Bonni Bonita – split 7” (Bombay Cove)
Damn, it’s like Austin TX sat back and thought, “You know, there was all that talk in the ‘90s about us becoming the next whatever-city, but did we ever actually BECOME it? Hard to say…well, just in case, let’s go ahead and do that shit. Better late than never!” Perhaps there’s something down there that prevents the dipshit-threshold from being reached (I’m sure the locals would disagree with me), but I don’t leave the fucking house anymore and I’m going to Austin TWICE in the next six months. Followed By Static were awarded a spot at the bottom of the pile due to their name, though I have no idea what exactly bugs me about it. Remember when mid-period Sonic Youth came up behind you with something so great it sounded like some new, inspired gaggle of geniuses who wouldn’t be around for more than one LP? Think “Waist” or the entirety of Thurston’s Psychic Hearts album. That’s “Smiles” … side A. Side B is rave-up until it’s a freak-out and sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before … not in a bad way, but not so amazing I’m thinking about it while other music plays. The A side is a keeper, though, in case I need to spell it out.
FBS’s side of the split is excellent pub rock for the Comments Section Generation, with the swagger and confidence of three people who are together for a reason, maybe even a, hold it, VISION. Everyone’s going to be falling all over themselves for this band within a year or two, if they stay the course. It’s fairly accessible, therefore susceptible to sucking if taken a few degrees in the wrong direction, so let’s hope that doesn’t happen, either. They don’t do it for me like Dimples, The Young, Tre Orsi, 2, Gold Bears, or Lay Down Mains do (to name some recent rock examples that don’t skirt the noise threshold), but the potential here is upside-the-head slapping. The other side is about cookies or the cookie monster, literally, via three girls and one guy who are named after a racehorse and seem to have a cleavage agenda. “A cleavage agenda” I just wrote … anyway, expect this to sound like more good-times garage-pop that the one-sheet tags as “Garage Doo-Wop” and that validates a fear I’ve had for a year, maybe two … the fear of that term becoming a reality. (http://www.sundaerecords.com) (http://www.bombaycove.com)
(Andrew Earles)
