After personally writing off their debut album on their labels website, it appears that Detroits Thunderbirds Are Now! are pumped about their second album it sure as hell sounds like it. Abandoning all consciousness of their home citys number one export (garage rock, that is), the four-piece have forged a distinct sound hinting that some young men havent taken their Ritalin in a while. Justamustache is a remarkable sophomore effort, especially if its rebounding from what they consider to be a first album that sucks. Their pace is ridiculous, especially for music that is so melodically abundant; imagine the Blood Brothers getting a blood transfusion with Devos jerky pop plasma and you get the picture. The rhythms of drummer Mike Durgan and bassist Martin Smith (now Howard Chang, who recently replaced Smith) are so tight that you could drop dimes on their asses and theyd bounce into space. "Cobra Feet does a nice job of displaying this, beginning with a faux beat on the verge of happy hardcore before the band kicks in. Ryan Allens well-publicised effeminate vocals are no exaggeration, nor are they anything less than a fantastic weapon for such zesty pop music, like in the chant of "Eat This City. The nicest feature of this outfits arsenal though has to be the subtle strokes of synth that do a nice job of making a difference without pushing the music into another sub-genre.
(Frenchkiss)Thunderbirds Are Now!
Justamustache
BY Cam LindsayPublished Jul 1, 2005