Abe Vigoda - Crush

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5...according to our Brian on Thu 16 Sep, 2010.

I know that Phil guy, known him for years . He tells the Debenhams story about how night workers at a store in Leeds could hear the vibrations from a Swans gig at the Warehouse half a mile down the road. That doesn't mean that grumpy old NY disturber Gira gets MY vote for album of the week (although it is a mesmerising album!). Tropical goth art-punks Abe Vigoda have possibly constructed my long player of the year with 'Crush'!! I hate to be a vacuous trendy kid but this is kinda what I expected from The Horrors last album. Les Savy Fav, Bauhaus, Interpol. The Robokop Kraus, Xiu Xiu...all the things you like about all these bands and much more, rolled into a relentless pop machine. They're quite tribal & relentless too, with massive choruses & this hypnotic attention to detail. There's also captivating crescendos like what you get from Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai, there mingling with frenetic, violent art pop. They're quite freaky, lots of songs have scintillating off-beat drum patterns..I have listened to this album about 30 times in the past two months & I'm utterly, hopelessly possessed. Their last 'Skeleton' was the biz, this is the lion's dick! It's like 2002 all over again but better!! For fans of Cold Cave with a hope...

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Those who clocked Abe Vigoda’s transition from 2006’s debut Kid City to 2008’s startling tropical-punk “Skeleton” should know the LA quartet aren’t ones for repeating themselves. To Skeleton’s hot-hot-hot template, they now add glassy shards of ‘cold wave’ pop, with synthesisers, sequencers and altogether broodier beats. Scorching temperatures, icy currents… CRUSH is a thermal column of vertiginous brilliance!

But let’s not get bogged down in categories. Just as Skeleton was difficult to define “Crush” is a similar collision of sound, another helter-skelter joy ride through four boys’ private party. Even so, there was a thought process behind this new surge. In 2009 Dane Chadwick replaced drummer Reggie Guerro, introducing a new style of regimented beats as well as other musical ideas to the table. “More than just rhythmically, Dane helped with melodies and most of the electronics on the album,” says vocalist Michael Vidal.

Meanwhile, guitarist Juan Velasquez had already posted the fact he dug UK dreampop and goth. To which Vidal adds, “My favourite kind of music is instantly nostalgic and emotionally confusing. And reverb has always been a big part of our sound. We were definitely inspired by cold wave and minimal wave stuff, as well as Arthur Russell.”

From the pell-mell pop of ‘Sequins’ to the New Romantic crush of ‘Throwing Shade’ and the title track’s MBV scree, “Crush” feels a long way from the Smell Club band scene of AV’s roots. For one, they’ve added so much emotion to their sonics, to which the album title bears testament - crush meaning both the infatuation kind of love and the act of destroying something… “Crush” is released 20th September on Bella Union.

Tracklisting:

1. Sequins 2. Dream Of My Love (Chasing After You) 3. Throwing Shade 4. Crush 5. November 6. Pure Violence 7.
Repeating Angel 8. To Tears 9. Beverly Slope 10. We Have To Mask

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