Remember that time when you heard a band you really liked on an awesome music site, and then you checked out more of their music and snagged it on vinyl? And then you bought a ticket for you and your buddy to see them at a local joint and bought a t-shirt and 7″ from merch stand? And then you wore that t-shirt everywhere and told all of your friends how good that band was and then you bought everything they released and saw them any time they came to your town?
No? Well what the fuck are you doing? That’s what being a music fan is all about; enjoying the tunes, spreading the word, buying their shit, and seeing them live. OK, promise me this; That once you get into The Notes that you’ll do all of the above, OK? kthx
The three-piece from London (and sometimes Southampton) enjoy a band called The Smiths, and it shows. Drawing from Johnny Marr’s stirring guitar work and Morrissey’s morose stature, they’ve taken the poignant wall-of-sound from yesteryear’s “Psychocandy” jams and jarred it with today’s Lo-Fi-driven and reverb-laden Garage anthems to create an easily accessible and highly enjoyable album.
Many seem to compare them to Best Coast, presumably because both lead singers are female and both do Lo-Fi Indie-Pop, but to me that’s pretty much where the comparisons stop. For one the lyrics sung here by Lauren are infinitely more thought-out and well-crafted than Best Coast’s are, and there’s more sonic variety on this album than the same format repeated 10 times.
I’ll let you be the judge though. Below are three songs from their debut album which is streaming in full over at the their Bandcamp page. Not only that, but perhaps more excitingly (for me, anyway) is that their album can be bought on possibly the sexiest-sounding and best-packaged vinyl release of the year via Bleeding Gold. Pressed on double 10″ vinyl, the regular version is done on aqua blue vinyl and limited to 300 copies, whilst the limited edition pressing is done on white/gold haze wax and will contain an individually, hand silk-screen print from Kaizen Collective and limited to just 100. Hot damn!
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The Notes – “Sheltered”
The Notes – “Awake”
The Notes – “Nineteen”
