May 27, 2004

{ Longwave Life of the Party EP }

I can�t remember ever being this impressed by such a small handful of songs. Longwave have trumped the standard set by their earlier full-length by taking some chances with this EP, and it pays off in spades. Extremely listenable and catchy, each song has its own identity and creates its own energy- from the new-wave synth rock of the title track to the organic unplugged melancholy of �There�s a Fire�. The third track, �Here It Comes� offers some Jesus and Mary Chain-esque crunchy guitar chords over xylophone melodies and a stringed chorus. �Sunday Nite Health�, the closing track, feels like an electro-lullaby with guitar accompaniment and the EP�s second track �We�re Not Gonna Crack� is ready to rawk your ass off via some rapid-fire, heavy yet polished, garagey chops with a Sonic Youth �Cool Thing�-feel to them. Usually, make-or-break-your-career EPs are released at the start of a band�s journey, before major label deals and the pressures of putting together a full length album.... Not so here. This small slice of Longwave could easily outperform their previous release sales-wise and buzz-wise, and may set the stage for something really huge- it�s just that good. The real question will be whether this enthusiasm and energy can be carried over to the next album, and sustained for more than five songs. If what I�ve heard here is any indication, they�re ready to do it and do it well. �Life of the Party� is available June 8. I�d like to give a big shout out to Jim Merlis and Juliet Kim of Big Hassle Media for providing an advance copy of �Life of the Party�.

» Big Hassle Media / Longwave bio and pics

» Buy it...

By Adam in Music | Comments:

Comments

Also- mad props to my little brother Marc for organizing the 3 day bachelor party extravaganza last year that resulted in my first hearing Longwave. (Even though he and my boy Jake fucked up my chance to meet Frank Black the next night. Oh, and while I�m at it- fuck J.R. for drinking all the beer and for having swamp-foot.)

Posted by: Adam at May 27, 2004 10:06 PM

i saw them on conan long ago and shane was like "not another one of these bands" and then we watched it and i was like "wow, i thought that song was really good"- you know the one i'm talking about, it's got a little U2 going on in it, and that song has remained on the ipod and various comp cds ever since... the rest of the album ain't bad either... shane now agrees...

Posted by: stace at May 27, 2004 11:15 PM