Straight Rocker From Heart To Gold

Minneapolis has long been home to an incredible DIY and gritty musical scene dating back to the late 70s and into the early 80s. For me, Twin Cities based outfit Heart to Gold carry that banner with them with their punk inspiration, but with a more upbeat, poppy, and modern sound. As an example, new single “Chloe” features just a ton of unbridled energy and fun with absolutely expert instrumentation throughout. Also gotta love anytime a three piece can sound this LOUD and full. Carry on.

Eureka California – Crunch

eureka3Rating: ★★★½☆

Once in a blue moon you stumble across an album that defies the odds.  You might recognize bits of various genres within this sort of album, but every song sounds completely refreshing.  You’ll get precisely this when you listen to Crunch, the newest album from Athens’ Eureka California; they’ve created a pop rock record that doesn’t give a fuck if you like it.

One of the great attributes, of which there are many, on Crunch lives in the fact that only one song on the album breeches the 3 minute mark, with most falling far short of that mark.  Take the opener, “Edith” which is finished in just under a 1.5 minutes, as an example; it’s a jangling rocker with a nice little bounce, but rather than hit you over the head with redundancy, Eureka California quickly gets to the point, then wraps it up.  This is a tactic that’s used far too rarely nowadays, as many bands want to make sure you acknowledge their musicianship.  Here it’ll allow you to bob your head to track after track, never tiring of a single note.

Still, you can’t just rely on short bursts of joyous pop, you’ve got to have great songs tune, and they’re filling up this entire album.  I love “There’s No Looking Back,” opening with a casual chugging riff and vocals, but as you’re growing accustomed to the tune, it blasts off furiously into a more ramshackle version of itself.  There’s also “This Ain’t No A-Side,” which might be one of the album’s better tracks.  It uses a little bit of fuzziness on the instruments, while holding onto this youthful vibrance that burrows into your eardrums.  And you can’t forget the lead single from Crunch, “Twin Cities.” This song in particular gathers all of my favorite bits of the band and throws it into one song; there’s hooks in the vocals, well-executed guitar riffs, various movements and it all seems like the band is on the verge of falling off the tracks.

There’s a reckless abandon to the entirety of Crunch.  After many many listens it seems like the group got together to bang out the loudest, most fun set of pop tracks they could.  They clearly weren’t concerned with where they fit in the grand spectrum of the music world, they just wanted to write a bunch of great songs; it’s part of what makes every track so endearing, and ultimately what makes Eureka California something quite special.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/08-Twin-Cities.mp3]

 

Rocking Tune from Eureka California

DSC_4222x-editI really love a track that just gives into the soul of the song, discarding all the bullshit to the side.  That’s the feeling I get when I listen to pretty much every song on the up-coming Eureka California album.  Their songs are catchy, as you’ll see below, but aside from standard song structures, the group doesn’t worry about much else; they dive into their songs with reckless abandon, emboldened by the spirit of just playing good rock n’ roll. You can pick up their new album, Crunch, from HHBTM Records as we speak.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/08-Twin-Cities.mp3]

 

 

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