Ears Wide Open: Astronaut Academy

Kevin Bronson on May 13th, 2011

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[Memo from the Buzz Bands Dept. of Rock: :”You guys have been too heavy on the indie-pop and folk. What gives?” So in an effort to pump up the volume:]

Any number of tunes on the forthcoming album by Astronaut Academy would slide nicely into alt-rock radio playlists of the 1990s, which seem like a pretty decent proposition considering radio playlists today. The quartet of singer-bassist Jeff Dunham (pictured), guitarists D. Troy Castro and Mike Bray and drummer John Stone do it the old-school way, fashioning big, bad hooks and teeth-rattling rhythms that recall the post-grunge era and the Brit-rock bands that echoed down its hallways. They even have a snarling, Jack-and-Coke take on the traditional “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” famously covered by Johnny Cash, that makes repentance seem like an imperative. Or, at least, earplugs.