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The Beets' attitude is second to none and it serves them
well. Their appeal is undeniable. Their sound takes pieces of
all things 60's garage/pop with shards of punk and aggressive
folk influences stuck throughout their never-over-three-minute
tracks. The band consists of two ambiguous front men and a fantastically
straight forward but aggressive surf-rock drummer. Juan Wauters
and Jose Garcia share the responsibility of pelting out
original lyrics that are honestly kind of too perfect and simple;
some might call them reminiscent of early Beatles and the
like. The actual delivery of the lyrics is quite similar to that
of Royal Trux in that most of their tracks involve both
front men singing two identical lines of lyrics at the same time,
one a little higher and nasally, the other a little deeper, buried
and equally as distorted or fuzzed out. Fans of Nobunny,
Wavves, and Ty Segall will most likely feel right
at home with this band.
Their current release is titled Stay Home. It is their
second full length album and it dominates the sound they have
developed. The success and impact of Stay Home as an album
can probably be chalked up to their dedication to everything that
makes them who they are. The first thing that The Beets should
be commended for is completely overcoming the issues that usually
come along with a sophomore album. To put it in perspective, a
band like Smith Westerns who managed to over-polish a really
simple and beautiful sound that was obviously too influenced by
T. Rex not only managed to take their sound down a peg
with their second full-length, but they also talked a big game
in interviews that may or may not have really put a dent in the
public's perception. With The Beets though, it is quite obvious
that their origins are what are important to them. They have been
known to be one of the most active local New York groups that
don't seem to get caught up in music industry BS. After reading
a few interviews and studying their albums, you could definitely
say that Stay Home thrives on their dedication to their
sound and their local heritage.
The stand out hit on the record is obviously "Watching TV".
The video that was released in support of the song not only compliments
the original track, but really gives a good insight into who The
Beets really are. The video seems like a beautiful afterthought,
sort of a tongue in cheek low budget joke. The opening track "Cold
Lips " is also enticing, with a slight folk influence that
stands out from the rest. "Cold Lips" is just one example
of a multitude of tracks from The Beets that could probably sneak
into the Animal House soundtrack or possibly even one of
those Nuggets compilations without anyone noticing. On
the whole, the album sticks close to the comfort of their home
sound, but a few tracks like "Cold Lips" and "Flaxing
Seed " venture out a little bit. The one track that really
sticks out as a different sound for them would have to be "Flight
14". Like the other tracks, it's got a few loveable and negligible
blunders, but the delivery and production of the guitar is a little
more hi-fi than the rest and almost sounds like something from
The Meat Puppets. All in all, fans of the genre and anything
similar should definitely spend twenty-eight minutes getting to
know these guys. People unfamiliar with the joy of lo-fi punk
attitude garage pop may want to avoid this one; it would be a
shame for ignorance to get in the way of such devotion and raw
power…
-brad knain
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