Review Summary: DIY indie rock where the hooks are as abundant as the nonsensical lyrics.
There's no such thing as bad publicity, right? Tell that to Texas based indie rockers Teenage Cool Kids. After months of touring, writing and recording following the release of their debut, Queer Salutations, the band were brought down to earth with a heavy thud. The Cool Kids, a Chicago pseudo-hipster rap duo, filed a cease and desist against the band regarding copyright infringement (which apparently means they must credits themselves with the coining of the phrase ‘cool kids’) demanding that the band immediately stop selling and performing merchandise under the Teenage Cool Kids name. The blogosphere, in a dizzying rage, packed support in numbers behind the young indie band and alas, they prevailed, releasing ‘Foreign Lands’ just months after. A true indie 'success by scandal' story, surely?
Well, not really. Foreign Lands, it turns out, was a little
too late to the party. When bloggers realized posts aggrandizing Teenage Cool Kids as the wronged indie heroes and The Cool Kids as the face of the corporate greed wasn’t going to get them extra hits anymore, they packed up their things and left in search of the next bit of news to get hipster hearts racing. The buzz had died, interest was lost, and people started forgetting Teenage Cool Kids; cue the release of Foreign Lands and what a shame that is because I’ll be damned if this isn’t one of the finest messes of lo-fi pop-punk released all year.
Immediately and very obviously relatable to early Built to Spill matched with the upbeat and decidedly solid Meneguar, Foreign Lands is unhinged and hook-crazy, hardly ever stopping to catch it’s breath. Title track ‘Foreign Lands’ is your prototypical summer indie jam, rife with ‘woo ooh ooh’ backing vocals and the nasal, untrained vocals that convey, coupled with the lyrics, such a cool nonchalance, that they fit perfectly into the genial mood of the music, like a high school jam band without a worry. The bands strong DIY ethics comply with that image, recording, producing and even booking their tour, all by their own hand.
Foreign Lands is a record that moves with an unbridled sense of energy. The hooks come as fast as they go and this is none more evident than in closer “Animal Sounds”, which is strategically preceded by the slowest song on the album, “Skinny Girls”, a wailing tribute to the aesthetically appealing (“You don’t ever go with many girls / but when you do you go with skinny girls”). “Animal Sounds”, however, is the polar opposite, opening with a few sun-soaked strums of the guitar before exploding into quick, melodic yelps to contrast a deeper-sung chorus, packing hooks, hooks and hooks in between. “Speaking in Tongues” follows a similar formula and is immediately another highlight as the song comes to a close with a very Built to Spill reminiscent instrumental outro.
As much as the terms are tossed around, Foreign Lands absolutely begs to be sung-a-long to because it is simply the catchiest bit of fun this side of the indie rock spectrum. Alongside contemporaries Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill and recent indie rock revivalists Cymbals Eat Guitars, Foreign Lands may not be the strongest indie rock record of the year. However, to stand comfortably on its feet beside them is a feat that is remarkable in itself.
