Halloween Swim Team lays claim to No. 1

Kevin Bronson on January 9th, 2009

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Since newspapers and TV stations always make a big deal out of the first baby born every calendar year, I think it’s only right that Buzz Bands acknowledges the first L.A. album birthed in 2009 — “The End of the Sky” by local trio Halloween Swim Team. The band released the album at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1 — or while they were playing a New Year’s Eve show — and quite possibly Modern Sleeze! Records had the biggest seller of the year for a while. What to make of it? “Drum machines have no soul … neither do keyboards,” the band’s MySpace page tells me.” But in the twitchy hands of Dustin Krapes, Jon Navarro and Scott Carrillo, they have a sense of wonder, even if you feel that taking HST’s bratty, DIY electro too literally would be like sticking your finger in a light socket. [Above, the video for “Thin Airlines.”]