| BEST 2010 ALBUMS: #19. THE DRUMS - 'The Drums' |
| Written by Shahlin Graves | |||
| Thursday, 30 December 2010 19:09 | |||
#19. THE DRUMS - The Drums  Prior to seeing them live, I merely liked THE DRUMS. I found their unabashed boyband-ish harmonics relatively pleasant and quite satisfying as background music. But then[!] homegirl Florence + The Machine kindly brought The Drums to Auckland as her support band for her first New Zealand headlining show... and by all accounts, I fell head over heels. Ignoring the fact that I'm a little bit smitten with (champion tambourinist and) guitar player Jacob Graham, The Drums' debut self-titled album is an invigorating mash of The Smiths and The Shangri-Las influences, resulting in one of the guitar-pop albums of the year. The earnest 'Down By The Water' is a perfect three and a half minutes of revivalist doo-wop pop, while the aerobic 'Best Friend' is vaguely reminiscent of Vampire Weekend's 'White Sky' - both being among my favourite songs of the entire year. But please, do yourself a favour and catch The Drums live - there's nothing quite like their on-stage dancing (except maybe Vampire Weekend's of course). MUST-LISTEN: 'Best Friend', 'Book Of Stories', 'Down By The Water', 'Let's Go Surfing', 'Forever And Ever Amen'. YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Mystery Jets, Vampire Weekend, Surfer Blood, Magic Kids... and overindulgent reverb. MUST-WATCH: The Drums' 'Best Friend' music video...  |
