Adam Pfleider
03/29/10, 01:13 PM
Look Mexico - To Bed to Battle
Label: Suburban Home Records
Release Date: March 23, 2010
There was a time a few years ago where I was sick of hearing the next generation lack of pop, Midwestern emo, indie sensibility that was being shoved down my throat. It was like trying to retain sixth wave leftovers from record companies trying to maintain the next buck since they had "one" big breakout. With that pessimism, I bred a history lesson of bands such as Braid, Texas is the Reason and Sunny Day Real Estate. I went back to the gritty roots which were put together in passion and creativity not seen before it.
More than a decade later, I can finally say I'm happy with what's being put on my plate as a new meal. Look Mexico are now dishing out their second album after last decade's proper full length and a handful of EP's. To Bed to Battle isn't to be passed over lightly. It's reminiscent of a time where more was put into the build of a song structure and not the look of the band playing the song.
The opener eases in a repetitive, infectious chorus, "Thank you for absolutely nothing." Its falsetto doesn't seem cheap in production. It's as honest as when Davey VonBohein sang out the circular chorus in "Is This Thing On?" That honesty and Midwestern homage holds true with "I Live My Life a Quarter Mile at a Time" and the closing "Just Like Old Times" on Look Mexico's new album.
But it's the quick left turn that To Bed to Battle takes that separates it as its own, and not just a classic portrait of how we felt about our 90's idols. "Take It Upstairs, Einstein" glistens strings and twang in a band who are attempting a craft outside of its album's first two track marks. That old sound and new Midwest, Saddle Creek influence blends on "Until the Lights Burn Out?" and "They Only Take the Backroads." As the band instrumentally takes its closer to the end of the album, it feels like sun is just setting over the plateau in the back of your mind.
Look Mexico are attempting to cram what they already know how to do and what they want to do in To Bed to Battle. Fortunate enough for the listener, it works on all levels. Sure, songs like "Get In There, Brother!" and "Time for You to Go Do Your Own Thing" don't fit quite right in the sequence, but they still have their moments of a band pushing expected boundaries. The first time I heard the album, my initial thought was, "Cool, it's like if Braid grew up in Georgia." That may not be the most accurate way to describe the band's abilities in the simplest form, but one listen through and you may get a connection of how some of us miss and continue to rediscover those better days, without getting completely stuck in the past.
1. You Stay. I Go. No Following*
2. No Wonder I'm Still Awake
3. Take it Upstairs, Einstein*
4. I Live MY Life a Quarter Mile at a Time
5. Until the Lights Burn Out?
6. They Offered Me a Deal (I Said No, Naturally)
7. Get In There, Brother!
8. They Only Take the Backroads*
9. Time For You To Go Do Your Own Thing
10. Just Like Old Times*
*key tracks
Braid's Frame and Canvas; New Amsterdams' Story Like a Scar; Lucero's Tennessee
Label: Suburban Home Records
Release Date: March 23, 2010
There was a time a few years ago where I was sick of hearing the next generation lack of pop, Midwestern emo, indie sensibility that was being shoved down my throat. It was like trying to retain sixth wave leftovers from record companies trying to maintain the next buck since they had "one" big breakout. With that pessimism, I bred a history lesson of bands such as Braid, Texas is the Reason and Sunny Day Real Estate. I went back to the gritty roots which were put together in passion and creativity not seen before it.
More than a decade later, I can finally say I'm happy with what's being put on my plate as a new meal. Look Mexico are now dishing out their second album after last decade's proper full length and a handful of EP's. To Bed to Battle isn't to be passed over lightly. It's reminiscent of a time where more was put into the build of a song structure and not the look of the band playing the song.
The opener eases in a repetitive, infectious chorus, "Thank you for absolutely nothing." Its falsetto doesn't seem cheap in production. It's as honest as when Davey VonBohein sang out the circular chorus in "Is This Thing On?" That honesty and Midwestern homage holds true with "I Live My Life a Quarter Mile at a Time" and the closing "Just Like Old Times" on Look Mexico's new album.
But it's the quick left turn that To Bed to Battle takes that separates it as its own, and not just a classic portrait of how we felt about our 90's idols. "Take It Upstairs, Einstein" glistens strings and twang in a band who are attempting a craft outside of its album's first two track marks. That old sound and new Midwest, Saddle Creek influence blends on "Until the Lights Burn Out?" and "They Only Take the Backroads." As the band instrumentally takes its closer to the end of the album, it feels like sun is just setting over the plateau in the back of your mind.
Look Mexico are attempting to cram what they already know how to do and what they want to do in To Bed to Battle. Fortunate enough for the listener, it works on all levels. Sure, songs like "Get In There, Brother!" and "Time for You to Go Do Your Own Thing" don't fit quite right in the sequence, but they still have their moments of a band pushing expected boundaries. The first time I heard the album, my initial thought was, "Cool, it's like if Braid grew up in Georgia." That may not be the most accurate way to describe the band's abilities in the simplest form, but one listen through and you may get a connection of how some of us miss and continue to rediscover those better days, without getting completely stuck in the past.
1. You Stay. I Go. No Following*
2. No Wonder I'm Still Awake
3. Take it Upstairs, Einstein*
4. I Live MY Life a Quarter Mile at a Time
5. Until the Lights Burn Out?
6. They Offered Me a Deal (I Said No, Naturally)
7. Get In There, Brother!
8. They Only Take the Backroads*
9. Time For You To Go Do Your Own Thing
10. Just Like Old Times*
*key tracks
Braid's Frame and Canvas; New Amsterdams' Story Like a Scar; Lucero's Tennessee