Chris Fallon
06/28/08, 12:46 AM
Midnight Movies - Nights (EP)
Record Label: New Line Records
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Who?
Imagine for a second the hypnotic and psychedelic sound The Doors brought forth in the late 1960’s coming together with The Velvet Underground & Nico in a David Lynch film. Yeah, that would probably describe Midnight Movies accurately. This Los Angeles foursome take pop music into an alternate universe by transforming it into a darker motif, with vocalist Gena Olivier’s thick and brooding pipes complimenting the synth-happy acid-trip music this band effectively uses.
How is it?
The six-track EP, Nights, doesn’t offer much more than a couple of reworked and leftover songs from the band’s 2007 breakthrough, Lion The Girl. The album doesn’t really stand as well on its own as the full-length simply because it feels like leftovers. The band’s rendition of the Moody Blues classic, “Nights In White Satin,” is faithful to its predecessor, even offering a French-sung version which is more appealing than the English cover (until I had heard their version, I had personally never cared for the song). Both of the remixes on the disc stem from Lion The Girl, done by James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), who put more of an industrial spin on each of the respective tracks. “Souvenirs” (remixed by Zinner) feels like less of a pop song and more of a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song (not that it’s a negative thing), and considering Midnight Movies revolves around a female singer with a distinctive voice much like Karen O, it feels castrated; the song's original sheen and pop glory are stripped in favor of convincing it to sound like another band all-together. Iha’s reworking of “Patient Eye” is reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore, which is to say it’s focused more on the industrial side of things. The track is incredibly dull after a few minutes, coming across as a bit of a throwaway cut.
“Should Have Known” is a beautifully-crafted, ready-for-radio pop hit, thundering across three-minutes with tribal drums and a continuous guitar line straight out of (coincidentally) Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream. Midnight Movies has an real talent in making their dark brand of noir-ish pop sound dark and moody (no pun intended) without seeming pretentious or trendy. The two b-sides (“Should Have Known” and “Stormy Eyes”) are great examples of what this band revels in: psychedelic pop lifted from a dream. For when the sun goes down, the city lights creep up and the streets are painted in rain water, Nights is a great soundtrack once the heavy-handed remixes are thrown aside.
The Doors, The Velvet Underground & Nico, film noir, the vocals of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ singer Karen O
1. Nights In White Satin
2. Should Have Known
3. Souvenirs (Nick Zinner Remix)
4. Stormy Eyes
5. Patient Eye (James Iha Remix)
6. Mes Rêves De Satin
Band:
Gena Olivier: vocals/keyboards
Larry Schemel: guitar
Ryan Wood: bass/keyboards
Sandra Vu: drums
Official Site (http://www.midnightmovies.net); Official MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/midnightmovies)
Record Label: New Line Records
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Who?
Imagine for a second the hypnotic and psychedelic sound The Doors brought forth in the late 1960’s coming together with The Velvet Underground & Nico in a David Lynch film. Yeah, that would probably describe Midnight Movies accurately. This Los Angeles foursome take pop music into an alternate universe by transforming it into a darker motif, with vocalist Gena Olivier’s thick and brooding pipes complimenting the synth-happy acid-trip music this band effectively uses.
How is it?
The six-track EP, Nights, doesn’t offer much more than a couple of reworked and leftover songs from the band’s 2007 breakthrough, Lion The Girl. The album doesn’t really stand as well on its own as the full-length simply because it feels like leftovers. The band’s rendition of the Moody Blues classic, “Nights In White Satin,” is faithful to its predecessor, even offering a French-sung version which is more appealing than the English cover (until I had heard their version, I had personally never cared for the song). Both of the remixes on the disc stem from Lion The Girl, done by James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), who put more of an industrial spin on each of the respective tracks. “Souvenirs” (remixed by Zinner) feels like less of a pop song and more of a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song (not that it’s a negative thing), and considering Midnight Movies revolves around a female singer with a distinctive voice much like Karen O, it feels castrated; the song's original sheen and pop glory are stripped in favor of convincing it to sound like another band all-together. Iha’s reworking of “Patient Eye” is reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore, which is to say it’s focused more on the industrial side of things. The track is incredibly dull after a few minutes, coming across as a bit of a throwaway cut.
“Should Have Known” is a beautifully-crafted, ready-for-radio pop hit, thundering across three-minutes with tribal drums and a continuous guitar line straight out of (coincidentally) Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream. Midnight Movies has an real talent in making their dark brand of noir-ish pop sound dark and moody (no pun intended) without seeming pretentious or trendy. The two b-sides (“Should Have Known” and “Stormy Eyes”) are great examples of what this band revels in: psychedelic pop lifted from a dream. For when the sun goes down, the city lights creep up and the streets are painted in rain water, Nights is a great soundtrack once the heavy-handed remixes are thrown aside.
The Doors, The Velvet Underground & Nico, film noir, the vocals of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ singer Karen O
1. Nights In White Satin
2. Should Have Known
3. Souvenirs (Nick Zinner Remix)
4. Stormy Eyes
5. Patient Eye (James Iha Remix)
6. Mes Rêves De Satin
Band:
Gena Olivier: vocals/keyboards
Larry Schemel: guitar
Ryan Wood: bass/keyboards
Sandra Vu: drums
Official Site (http://www.midnightmovies.net); Official MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/midnightmovies)