The Best Thing I've Heard All Week
"Patterns" by the Republic Tigers, streaming now on their MySpace page.
Seriously, I've heard a lot of new stuff this week -- Noisettes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a fistful of British It bands from a MOJO compilation, Dinosaur Jr., Feist, K-Os, the Sea and Cake -- and all of it's been good, but if I had to pick just one track to share with people, it'd be "Patterns."
The song manages to be both ruminative and expansive -- it talks in your ear and spreads across the ceiling like a vapor. It's musical heroin, that first great wave coming at 1:50, after tension built by the lead singer's clenched-jaw poetics, when the vocals unfold in layers and sing Something bright flashed on inside my heaaad, and then the catchiest harmony of the year ensues. And at 3:00, is that freakin' acapella percussion? This song is a study in how to write and build vocal parts. Tension, release. It's like kung fu. Nothing gets me higher (which is probably why I can't get into instrumental rock bands like Explosions in the Sky).
So go listen to it. Forget it's by a local band, if that's still a problem for you. But do take note that the Tigers are playing tonight at the Grand Emporium.
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