Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 8


Sometimes albums come out of nowhere. No buzz, no future warning, no seeing them open for somebody else. Sometimes it's just happenstance. Destroy This Place's self titled debut is one of those records. I read The AV Cub on The Onion's site and I noticed a blurb titled "Destroy This Place Show How Press Releases Can Get It Right." The name of the band caught my eye so I checked it out, which led me to their Bandcamp page, which led me to searching out whether they had their record on vinyl, which led the vinyl copy arriving in my hands a week later. A chance encounter with a headline on a website brought about commerce. Hooray technology and capitalism!!

DTP is a perfect example of what I talked about before about the state of rock n roll. You listen to this record and you are assured that rock n roll is just fine. It's noisy, it's aggressive, it's remarkably memorable. It is a loud record, in fact I just went to the stereo to turn it up louder. The songs bite and snarl but they are filled, I mean FILLED, with great hooks and harmonies. For such a noisy record the singing is not just great but put nice and clear in the mix! Serious kudos to producer Mike Bridavsky, this is one of the best produced rock records I have heard. Mike, if you read this I would love to have you produce my band's next record.

DTP probably should be higher on the list. It's easily my favorite power-pop record of the year and if I was in a more power-pop frame of mind it probably would be my #1 favorite of the year. And I am KICKING myself for not going to see them earlier this year. Please come back to DC soon. Pretty please! I promise I won't be lazy.

Back to the point, this record shows that their is plenty of great rock out there if you just go and look for it. It might be hard to find and it might not be popular but it is out there. These guys have almost 900 likes on their Facebook page. What the fuck? Bands like Destroy This Place belong on the radio. If not terrestrial radio then DEFINITELY on Little Steven's Underground Garage. C'mon, Silvio! Play more bands like this!!


Next up....another great guitar record from a great Baltimore band.

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