video: Best Coast - Our Deal (directed by Drew Barrymore)

ah, forbidden love

yes, that is the kid sister from 500 Days of Summer

and yes, that is Maeby from Arrested Development

Get More: MTV Supervideo, Music, Best Coast

behind the scenes:

Get More: MTV Supervideo, Music, Best Coast

listen/download: Best Coast at Daytrotter

I recently looked up the location of my favourite studio, and it happens that Daytrotter is located in Northwestern Illinois. HOWEVER, this recently dug out session was strangely recorded in LA, at Elliott Smith's old studio when the daytrotter guys were out visiting Socal in October of 2009. the recordings are very raw and quite excellent. read more and grab the whole session HERE

Best Coast - Make You Mine (daytrotter) [mp3]

record review: Best Coast - Crazy For You

“my highs are high, my lows are low, and I don’t know which way to go”

When it comes to dreamy, sun-drenched nostalgia, LA’s Best Coast have bested SF’s Girls. The irony, of course, lies in the fact that Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino is actually a girl whereas Christopher Owens is gay at most. And whereas Owens' channels Costello, Cosentino's vocal style is much more comforting, like a friend's whisper delivered with perfect clarity.

Crazy For You is the musical equivalent of reading a teenage girl’s diary, swimming with the nonsensical derision, the fogginess of self-medicating, the stubborn insistence on apathy when in reality, you’re emotionally attached.

It’s striking in the sense that teenage girls have as much emotional turmoil as there is water in the ocean. Theoretically, herein would lie its weakness—how interesting can this actually be? Surprisingly enough, though, the magic of the summer, which best summed up by the straightforward lyric “there’s something about the summer” (“Summer Mood”) gives the album more layers than it could ever have had if it relied on lyrics alone. Whether it’s the jangly tambourines in “Our Deal” or the ever-so-relatable desperate pleas in “Bratty B”, Cosentino’s songs don’t represent adolescent females as much as they reflect the general unpleasantness of being alone. The interplay of her lazy vocals and surprisingly advanced musicianship (aided by partner in crime Bobb Bruno) is reminiscent of early Sonic Youth albums. "I Want To" begins with two minutes of hazy wistfulness before an invigorating set of aggressive guitars changes the tempo of the song, and with it, the self-pitying perspectives that preceded it.

The songs are painstakingly genuine; on the closing track, Cosentino croons "my mama always told me there'd boys like you" before she concludes "I hate sleeping alone". Lo-fi indie doesn't get this honest. Ever. Put on Crazy for You and be comforted by the fact that misery makes for the best art, if not always the warmest sleeping companion.

4.3/5

Crazy for You dropped today. Pick it up at your local indie record shop.

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