The first thought that went through my head when I listened to The Stone Coyotes\u2019 latest album was, \u201cthere\u2019s no way that this stuff can be good for me.\u201d <\/p>\n
For far too long this spring and summer, my listening habits have consisted primarily of tuneless, disjointed indie rock. Most of the stuff is a laborious listening experience; if there\u2019s catchiness to be found, it takes at least a half-dozen listens to discover. But that stuff is supposed to be good for you — that\u2019s the stuff of 8.9 ratings on Pitchfork.<\/p>\n
So much to my surprise, the first three tunes of The Stone Coyotes\u2019 latest release, VIII<\/i>, were the type of tunes that didn\u2019t take any effort to appreciate. Their hooks smack you across your cheek and leave a mark. Around the third song, you start to view such instant accessibility as a challenge: \u201cOf course they\u2019re going to put the catchiest songs up in front, that\u2019s par for the course for most bands,\u201d I think, waiting for the inevitable decline. Then the fourth song, \u201cThe Lights of Home\u201d comes on– and bests the first three songs I heard. Then the fifth song, \u201cAll For Angelina\u201d comes on — which is so appealing, you\u2019re willing to overlook the very familiar guitar line from The Velvet Underground\u2019s \u201cSweet Jane.\u201d And so goes the rest of the seven tracks. <\/p>\n
VIII <\/i>will no doubt be one of the catchiest releases of 2008. It comes from a band that has formed its tightness from not only through a steady stream of paying their dues in the club circuit, but also through a family bond. The trio consists of vocalist and guitarist Barbara Keith, drummer Doug Tibbles (Keith\u2019s husband), and bassist John Tibbles. Their style, dubbed by the band as \u201cPatsy Cline meets AC\/DC,\u201d was infectious enough to catch the attention of novelist Elmore Leonard, who caught one of their shows at the Troubadour in The scammers, drunkards, and the heartbroken that populate this album would find a home in most of Leonard\u2019s novels. Unfortunately, some of the songs here could have used Leonard\u2019s wordplay. No matter how down and dirty the rhythm of \u201cThe Beat\u2019s Got a Hold On Me\u201d is, the lyrics sink the song and almost kill VIII<\/i>\u2019s momentum. Lines like \u201cThe cradle started to rock \/ The mouse ran up the clock\u201d and \u201cThe beat\u2019s got a hold on me \/ Yes, I hear a symphony\u201d may have passed in the \u201850s, but today, it\u2019s hard to listen to those lines without wincing.<\/p>\n However, most of the pleasure of this album doesn\u2019t come from lyrics. It comes from the dueling guitar work from Keith and John Tibbles. It comes from Doug keeping up with the scratchy, racing guitars without missing a beat. Above all, it comes from listening to something most people have heard countless times — a bluesy bar band — \u00a0and still creating something fresh and exhilarating. After all, you don\u2019t listen to AC\/DC for lyrical prowess. And like AC\/DC, The Stone Coyotes is best appreciated on a Saturday night with a steady stream of beer and gin and tonics. VIII<\/i>\u2019s bloozy swagger may only take one listen to digest, but chances are, you\u2019re going to be coming back for thirds and fourths. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7654],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41022","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-stone-coyotes","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41022"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41022"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}