After the release of their second album, The Singing Hatchet, the Radar Bros. were touted by every fellow musical artist with half a brain cell as the best band to come out of the United States. Hailing from Los Angeles, this trio creates melodic beauty in the key of Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Galaxie 500, Low, Neutral Milk Hotel, Medicine and Mercury Rev, for example. And with their new home now being Merge Records (home to the infamous Neutral Milk Hotel), one can be assured that they have added additional musical layers to their wispy and spacious hometown slow ride music in 4/4 time. Furthermore, Merge is the ideal home for the band, since they have a discreetly intellectually humorous side to them. If one pays attention to their lyrical content, they will notice a sort of ironic juxtaposition occurring, as they sing songs about missing dead aunts and dealing with simplistic suburban issues like getting out of bed and going to the grocery store in bombastic strokes alongside glorious pianos and cleverly conceived choruses. The medicinal Radar Bros. are indeed the greatest band to ever come from the States. They will help the cosmonaut on substances trip hard, the family dog yelp in harmony, can calm your drive home from a shitty day or simply make your overall life feel at ease.
(Merge Records)Radar Bros.
And The Surrounding Mountains
BY Roman SokalPublished Jun 1, 2002