|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
Reviews: - - - - - All Music Guide Don't let the frantic bash-and-crash opening of "California Sun", the first cut on the Makes Nice's debut album fool you -- for all their outward scruffiness, these guys are popmeisters of the first order, and by the time the third track, "Enough Is Enough", has rolled around, they've pulled out their prettiest harmonies, and the title cut suggests what you'd get if you fused the Raspberries with the Who and transplanted their souls into three dudes jamming in a California garage. Josh Smith's melodic but elemental guitar runs definitely carry their share of rock 'n' roll weight but don't overpower the hooks along the way, while drummer Jack Matthew and bassist Aaron Burnham fuse slightly teenage energy with a sense of musical discipline that never gets in the way of the fun. Cranking through thirteen songs in less than thirty-two minutes, The Makes Nice clearly believe in the virtues of short and sweet, and can bring just enough smirk and swagger to keep things from getting too sweet (cue up "November Girls" or "Cop Killer" for evidence). The Makes Nice play forceful pop music with a punk rocker's lack of pretension, and Candy Wrapper and Twelve Other Songs is a debut that leaves the listener wanting more; let's hope they have another half-hour this impressive in them a year or so down the road. - - - - - The Fabric House Holy shit! Make way for the new best band out of San Francisco, The Makes Nice! Ok ok, maybe I'm being a little over the top, but their show at the Fabric House, which was apparently their first public outing as a band, simply blew me away. I guess it shouldn't be that surprising, considering the credentials of the band members - Jack from Harold Ray: Live in Concert on drums, Aaron from Thee Mothballs on vocals and bass, and Josh from The Fucking Champs on guitars and vocals too. The sounds is somewhat expected - a mix of power-pop, garage, and even a little surf rock, with occasional double vocals and lots of "hott lixx" from Josh. Despite it seeming to be mostly a high school crowd there to see the later high school-aged bands, everyone seemed to be whooping it up quite fierce during The Makes Nice, and I whooped along with them. More than anything, I couldn't believe how tight and together they sounded, like a veteran band after a long toursimply amazing. Do yourself a favor and support these cats, you won't be disappointed. - - - - - SF Magazine Garage rock's clarion call was initially sounded in the mid-'60s, when kids across the United States attemped to duplicate the Merseybeat sound of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on the cheap, occasionally coming up with hits in the process (see "Psychotic Reation" by San Jose's very own Count Five). There have been garage revivals ever since, the most recent sparked by the White Stripes. As with third-wave ska or punk, many of these third-wave garage bands are either pale imitations or blatant rip-offs of the original sound. The Makes Nice is a pleasant exception: something of an indie supergroup, this San Francisco trio combines elements from the musicians' other outfits to create something refreshingly different. While most garage tunes revolve around simple riffs, Josh Smith imbues his songs with blistering solos inspired by his days in the metal outfit the Fucking Champs. Smith and bassist Aaron Burnham (the Mothballs) deliver bittersweet multipart harmonies, lending a melancholy Beach Boys-esque vibe to tracks like "Enough Is Enough." Meanwhile, drummer jack Matthew (from soul-punk outfit Harold Ray: Live in Concert) delivers rhythms that are far more limber than the usual straight-ahead garage bashing. With Candy Wrapper, the Makes Nice finds a way to give the garage a whole new look. B+ - - - - - Paper Thin Walls - - - - -
|
||||||||||||||||
|
