So apparently Prince Rama has written ten new hits to accompany the upcoming end of the world. The band has put together a pseudo-compilation album for their latest effort "Top Ten Hits of the End of the World" (released by Paw Tracks ... Avey Tare's label) set to hit the cosmos November 6th.
The two sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson have decided to cover various songs from otherwise fictional bands that highlight our pending doom in what can best be described as one of the most exciting aural acid trips you're ready to take this year. Lead track and apocalypse anthem "Welcome to the Now World" should already be familiar to children that grew up singing this song in schools... or at least they did in this band's parallel universe. Complete with old style electronic effects referring of the fictional computer-generated band (Hyparxia) that Prince Rama are supposedly channeling, the song produces a space-age effect hypnotic enough to help you conjure up some new Gods to pray to.
One of the most fascinating freak groups to come up in Brooklyn in quite some time, the band recently mesmerized us at their CMJ performance and will be back in NYC in December from their international tour with label-mates Animal Collective. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
"Uptempo" and "Pop" are by themselves two concepts that - in the business of being an indie band - can take you quite far; but if on top of that you add to the equation also comparisons to The Smiths, then the hype can get out of control. Brooklyn's Drowners have more than one similarity with Morrisey's act, and although they will surely feel belittled by such comparison, they should not, because no artists really managed to be The Smiths' worthy musical heir yet (like, for example, XTC were for The Beatles, Robin Hitchcock for Syd Barrett, and The Strokes for Lou Reed - uhm, maybe...).
The band's 3 songs debut EP features the remarkable single "Between Us Girls" (streaming below) which immediately throws us back to the days of "Meat is Murder," with the electric guitar alternating between jangly parts and arpeggios, and Welsh frontman Matt Hitt singing semi-melancholically about some girls' hair length - rather than about how big they are... The edge is slightly punkier, while the songwriting reveals an almost clinical concision (the song clocks in just under 2 minutes, with the first chorus coming in after 26" - A&R allergic to intros will dig that).
The second song, "You've Got it All Wrong," beats a similar musical path, tackling the infinite well of inspiration that (for Brits) is life at the pub, with the difference of a slower bridge, which acts as a breather for the final chorus. Final track "A Shell Across the Tongue" is the punkier of the bunch, but also the one with the least memorable melody.
This is obviously a band with enormous songwriting potential. If they'll manage to write songs as good as these and integrate their influences in a more mature and personal sound, the world can be theirs. - PDG
