"The playing's always spirited, producer Adam Lasus lends the disc a warm, ingratiating sound, and the songs are both taut and well-considered in their arrangements.” - Pitchfork
“Pure pop for now people” – SPIN, 8 out of 10
“in the grand power-pop traditions of Shoes, Material Issue and the Fountains of Wayne, wallowing here is delivered with buoyancy.” – LA Times
Army Navy was born in the bedroom of Justin Kennedy, who in his early days played with Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) in Seattle’s Pinwheel. Having relocated to Los Angeles after Pinwheel broke up, Kennedy began focusing on his new project and started assembling members for Army Navy. Multi-instrumentalist Louie Schultz joined swiftly after hearing Kennedy’s home demos. Without a permanent sticks man at the time of recording the first album, Army Navy’s album boasted drumming by the legendary Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello and The Attractions, who had been a longtime fan of the band. Army Navy soon found their permanent drummer Douglas Randall.
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Santah was born with their heads in the clouds and their feet stuck in the dirty ground. Luckily, right before they grew up for good, a tidal wave swept them up, quick as can be, and sent them teetering across the continent. They howled in confusion when that water came, arms all flailing, their faces purple as raisins. But they rolled back their eyes and just like that, they were in some holy home, right there in their own head, right there on that ocean, riding a wild and blurry-eyed vision, just being the most confused and luckiest boys to ever live or die in the whole goddamn world, just like that, all over the place.
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"After just a few listens to Mood Rings’ “Promise Me Eternity” b/w “Exorcized Painting” 7-inch, it's plain to see that both songs saddle up with the same dreamy drift that defined the group's sound upon releasing the Sweater Weather Forever EP back in January. Growth has taken place but mostly on a meta level that reveals more with each successive spin, allowing atmosphere and damaged pop aesthetics to unfold with an unhurried pace.
Although it’s generally a charming song, “Promise Me Eternity” falls on the breezy side, which is fine, and not really out of character for Mood Rings. But it lacks the murky and alluring bottom-end that marked the group’s intro, and illuminated much of the mystery that lined the hiss and negative spaces in Sweater Weather.... That said, this new single moves at the speed of clouds floating in the summer sky, and is quite easy on the psyche. Just as one ear latches onto the jangling strum of the guitar and drums that fly by like a sonic boom, the other ear gets lost in the lazy day melodies that consume the song with mesmerized and romantic pop motions.
On the flipside, “Exorcised Painting” comes to an end almost as quickly as it springs to life at only 1:32. Of the two songs here the b-side is far and away the more energetic number — short sweet and tailor-made for repeat needle drops. When placed side-by-side, both songs give an intriguing look at a band that’s becoming increasingly comfortable with its recorded self, and hinting at what may be lying in wait with the wealth of songs that Mood Rings has been sharpening on stages all year long." - Chad Radford / Creative Loafing Atlanta
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"Bottle Up And Explode is a foursome from Auburn, AL, and it does not play country music. This is a band that reflects modern and classic influences, the two most salient being the Beatles and the Strokes (singer Chris Cargile’s vocals recall proven Lennon/McCartney formulas as well as Julian Casablancas’ lyrical styling). This dynamic is surprising for guys whose upbringing largely forbade music and pop culture at large.
The band members grew up in a deeply religious part of the South where church wasn’t just on Sundays. The Thomas brothers—Micah (keyboard) and Caleb (lead guitar)—were home-schooled, so steady glimpses of the outside world were snatched here and there until the cultural blast-shields wore thin and finally collapsed all together. The other half of the band went through a similar experience. Just how severe was the music ban growing up? Remember the movie Footloose? The band’s bio tells tale of burnings at the local chapel of popular books, movies and music. “It was more like breaking,” explains Cargile, who tore up a Goosebumps book and had a friend stomp on his Lion King VHS. Cargile’s father took a hammer to his records, and only the Beatles were spared. “Oldies were somehow exempt from the devil,” says Cargile. “I don’t understand the logic of that, but the early ’60s and earlier were exempt. I’m glad he saved those.” The boys are full of stories from those days, perhaps because they’re so elemental to their music. The taste of freedom, after so long without it, proved to be intoxicating.
Bottle Up And Explode’s EP, Kingsley, embodies that spirit wholeheartedly. It’s exuberant and uptempo, a rallying cry, free of the hang-ups of modern malaise. Cargile sings about the friends in his hometown, getting older, getting dumped. This is all typical pop-fair but freshly packaged in both Cargile’s boyish voice and sheer musical energy. It’s no secret that these guys are genuine, as their honesty shows up in whatever they’re doing. “I think as far as our sound goes we wanted to do something that sounded as young and immediate as we feel and live our lives,” says Cargile. “Everything down South is a little old, a little worn out,” says Caleb Thomas, “and it’s easy to see that you’re headed for a graveyard like all your kin before you. It’s hard to believe in being young sometimes.” The local honkey-tonks are a monument to that since they only play music you can two-step or line dance to." Alex Erikson / CMJ
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$8 for 21+, $10 < 21, 18+ Doors @ 8 pm
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