The Muslims Want You To Rock
Listening to San Diego rockers The Muslims reminds me of hearing The Feelies and "Roadrunner" by Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers for the first time. Maybe for some of you, listening to The Feelies or the Mod-Lovers for the first time reminded you of when you actually heard the Velvets for the first time. Maybe for some of you listening to The Strokes for the first time was your VU or Feelies moment. I hope you're getting whatever point I am trying to make here; I gave up being a rock critic a while ago. I digress - Regardless of what the band may sound like to you, mostly The Muslims is the sound of guitars, drums and bass all put out their with effortless rock and roll energy and genuiness and directness. Simple shit, but really fucking good.Robots says The Muslims are reminiscent of The Dead Milkmen.
Chris tossed out the Modern Lovers and VU and told us to buy the album and the CD which I did from 1928 Recordings and its been on repeat since I heard the first few seconds of the first song (you get this cool 12-inch with a CD with extra tracks, fans!). And with all these comparison to the Lords of The Reed, here's an article from the San Diego City Beat with some of amazing quotes from lead singer and songwriter Matt Lamkin and lead guitarist Matty McLoughlin. Check it:
McLoughlin: "I started buying Velvet Underground records after reading reviews saying we sound like The Velvet Underground."
Lamkin: "It's flattering, but it's not what we're after," adds Lamkin. "I think Margo [Timmons, singer for Cowboy Junkies] said it best: ‘We don't want to hear The Velvet Underground another time around.'"
McLoughlin: "We don't know what the fuck we're doing. And that's why it sounds like The Velvet Underground. Because it has chords and my guitar is trebly. We like the E chord. It's simple. None of us listen to math-rock. We tried it, but it didn't work out that well. We're not bad, we're just not really good."
Lamkin: "We're not retrospective or nostalgic. We're actually not going for that old sound. None of our songs were influenced by Velvet Underground when I was writing them. "To be honest, I'm influenced by The Byrds."
McLoughlin: "We don't know what the fuck we're doing. And that's why it sounds like The Velvet Underground. Because it has chords and my guitar is trebly. We like the E chord. It's simple. None of us listen to math-rock. We tried it, but it didn't work out that well. We're not bad, we're just not really good."
Lamkin: "We're not retrospective or nostalgic. We're actually not going for that old sound. None of our songs were influenced by Velvet Underground when I was writing them. "To be honest, I'm influenced by The Byrds."
Pray for the Muslims. Hope that they don't get chewed up by the blogworld in nanoseconds and everyone leaves them for another MSTRKRFT or Justice or Spank Rock or Holy Fuck remix of a new Annuals song.
posted by Bruce at 6:58 PM
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