[File this under recent under-the-radar discoveries:]
The angsty post-rock of the Aimless Never Miss was cultivated by guitarist Jonny Latimer over a three-year period, with multiple recording sessions and rotating band members and the occasional tug of commitments to other projects. But his Bay Area quintet’s debut album (released yesterday on the re-launched label Devil in the Woods) shows that there’s still plenty to be written on a shoegaze canvas, with the right combination of stinging guitars and biting lyrics.
“We weren’t too worried about the album having a total cohesiveness, because we’re a pretty eclectic band,” says Latimer, who also contributes to such projects as Built by the Sea and Shuteye Unison. “We felt it would all fall together.”
The sonic results might remind you of bands as diverse as My Bloody Valentine, Mew, Silversun Pickups and Wolf Parade, but the real payoff comes in songs such as “The Bright Side,” “Trip and Fall” and “Nothing to Gain.” With its laconically upbeat lyrics, “Bright Side” subtly tackles “the absurdity of humanity, and the world we live in,” Latimer says. There is no such subterfuge in “Trip and Fall,” with its spit-out chorus, “I hope you trip and fall / on something cold and sharp.” Says Latimer: “We didn’t write it with Bush or Cheney or Rove in mind, but it’s clearly pointed at all the douchebag politicians who don’t have our best interests in mind.”
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Devil in the Woods honcho Mike Cloward is clearly happy to be back in business. The label’s been around more than two decades, and you’ll find names like Earlimart, Grandaddy and Rilo Kiley among its early releases. “I was burned to a crisp,” he says of his hiatus. “Didn’t even listen to music.”
The re-launch includes next month’s release of the new album by L.A.’s Light FM, “Black Magic Marker.”
||| Live: The Aimless Never Miss have no L.A. dates scheduled; watch for them in November.
||| Download: The Aimless Never Miss, “The Bright Side.”
||| Download: Built for the Sea, “Hypnotist.”
||| Download: Shuteye Unison, “Latin Metrics.”
Photo by Luke Judd
And here’s the video for the Aimless Never Miss’ “Bound”:
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I love these guys. It is a great video. I wonder how the new Devil in the Woods is going to do.
i saw these guys play in san francisco at cafe du nord. wow! is all i can say about their live show.
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