Posted by Wendy Peffercorn in 2011, mp3 | 0 Comments
new listen // Balkans
We’ve got a big crush on the Atlanta-bred Balkans and their debut self-titled LP, but right now we’re in that awkward courting stage. They’ve captured our attention with their catchy hooks, and we want to spend more time with them, but will they be just another punk-y garage band we will lose track of in a month? We’ve dealt with that crap before and our hearts are hardened from it.
But not all lo-fi garage bands sound the same! Balkans are much more than a fling in our eyes and seem to be proof that youth is not always wasted on the young. The guys play fast and hard, evident by their single “Edita V”, channeling ghosts of Strokes past, and bangers like “I Can’t Compete” and “Troubled and Done” could put them up in the ranks with Deerhunter, Black Lips, and JEFF the Brotherhood. Hell yeah. We went there.
The surf-swag swinger “Violent Girls” sounds like something Nathan Williams would either be proud to play, or have it in the background in a bar in Brooklyn when he beats the crap out of someone. “Black Swan” pirouettes flawlessly in and out of the middle of the album as Frankie Broyles’ voice echoes through fuzzy, distorted production, and we dig it.
That’s the great part about Balkans – they don’t pigeonhole themselves into any one, single garage rock sub-culture. They are tempo-changing heroes and seem to kill every genre they tackle. We can’t wait for what’s next. Scoop a few songs off the album below, and pick it up on vinyl from Double Phantom.
