Released - 7/27/10
Label - Mexican Summer
BLURB - I think we're all supposed to hate Bethany Cosentino and her Best Coast outfit. I don't know why - but we are. Best Coast literally came out of nowhere last year, releasing a few EP's, playing some timely shows and generating all kinds of buzz on the inter-webs. For as quickly as they gained fans and success they were also getting more than their fair share of haterade on sites like Brooklyn Vegan. I kind of fell in to this camp. I maybe only heard three of their songs, but they just seemed like this band that was jumping on the lo-fi, punk-surf-rock bandwagon (see also Surfer Blood, Wavves and Real Estate) and taking advantage of everyone else's success. Everything was super lo-fi, very simple and just came off as amateur and whiny. With the release of "Crazy For You," Best Coast makes the argument that all of us need to just shut up already. This album proves that they're one of the best acts out there (whether we like it or not), and now have a solid full length to back them up. The production is cleaned up, the vocals are absurdly addicting and there's more hooks than you can shake a stick at.
Rating - 9 out of 10
FULL STORY - The first thing that really jumps out on "Crazy For You" are Cosentino's vocals. They're that good. No, she's not Whitney Houston or anything like that, but her voice has this strange, intoxicating persona that instantly hooks listeners and reels them in. It's calm and confident and has a way of making her songs just feel like a casual conversation. The second thing that jumps out is the amount of hooks. Whether it be vocal melodies, guitar riffs or progressions - every track has some aspect to it that's catchy. I think this is what really carries "Crazy For You," because otherwise it would just be another lo-fi indie rock album that sounds like it was recorded in a tin can.
'Boyfriend' opens up the disc and is the quintessential summer single. It's upbeat, it's airy, it's got hooks and it's about a boy. Teenage girls everywhere rejoice! Best Coast does an amazing job, almost to their detriment, at keeping things simple and basic. There's rarely, if ever, any kind of extraneous material or effect that bogs down the music. At points, with anything that is overly simple, there is a tendency to get bored or tired with it. But with Cosentino's voice it's really hard to get bored. Perhaps that's even why the music and lyrics are so simple - they're just kind of there to point you in Cosentino's direction. I mean without her vocals I really can't picture myself singing along to a song called 'Boyfriend' with lyrics like this:
"The other girl is not like me, she's prettier and skinnier. She has a college degree, I dropped out at seventeen. If I could only get her out of the picture, then he would know how much I want him."
'Crazy For You' is another hook-friendly track that is all too easy on the ears. There's something about a girl strumming power chords and singing some 'oohhs' and 'ahhhs' that gets me every time. Once again, the track itself is overly simple and doesn't really venture outside of three or four chords. Like with all Best Coast tracks, and as I mentioned before, these songs all come off like conversations that are not only relatable but comfortable. 'Crazy For You' also clocks in at a mere 1:50, and amazingly there are two other songs on the album shorter than this! But for Best Coast this works...if you had these minimal, lo-fi tunes going on for more than about three or four minutes, they become way too easy to lose interest in. So in that aspect at least, 'Crazy for You' does a great job of grabbing your interest and letting it go before your ear can start wandering off to something else.
There's an air of 60's motown on 'Our Deal' that literally will stop you in your tracks. Cosentino nails the opening line and you're instantly committed to listening to the song, or even more, hitting the back button so you can hear it again. I may or may not have done that about a thousand times already. But especially on this track, you can really hear the sincerity and passion in Cosentino's voice, which is ironic given the lyrics:
"When you leave me you take away everything. You take all money. You take all my weed."
I guess that's kind of the point with this album though. There are no thought provoking metaphors or crazy musical arrangements to work your way through. The lyrics, the music, even the band...everything is just simple, relaxed and fun. Don't get me wrong - some of the lyrics are just mindless wanderings of a young hipster chick that smokes weed. And she does rhyme 'crazy' with 'lazy' a good thirty times...but don't let this deter you. Just press play, hang out and don't over think it.
Tracks
1.) Boyfriend
2.) Crazy For You
3.) The End
4.) Goodbye
5.) Summer Mood
6.) Our Deal
7.) I Want To
8.) When the Sun Don't Shine
9.) Bratty B
10.) Honey
11.) Happy
12.) Each and Every Day
13.) When I'm With You
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