Tuesday, July 12, 2016

High Violets - To Where You Are - 2006

You would think (I would think) that I would have a problem with a Post Punk band coming from the United States.  I mean, all my life I've considered Post Punk to be a European if not strictly British movement.  When I think Post Punk, I think New Order, Echo & the Bunny Men, Cure, Smiths, Psychedelic Furs and Siouxsie.  Not a local band from Portland, Oregon. But, here I am posting a release that I feel is comparable to all of them.

If you are a fan of Cocteau Twins, Lush, Curve or the Sundays, then you are definitely going to find something of interest here.  The first time I heard it, I instantly fell in love with them.  Fortunately, I didn't know they were from Oregon, or I may have passed them by.  Not that I have something against American bands, just that my tastes are a tad European.  When I think American music, I think Hard Rock, R&B, Rap, Country and teeny-bopper Pop shit.  Anything considered "alternative" by American artists is usually full of unjustified angst, which I find to be disgusting considering most of them should move out of their parents basements and get a job.

I keep slipping back onto that soapbox, sorry.

The entire album is full of great music that sounds very "early-90s", but with a modern twist.  The vocals are heavenly, and the guitar-playing would impress Robin Guthrie.  The melodies are full of pop hooks, and you'll find yourself humming along by the third playing.  Very catchy.

I included the remixes from the tracks that were on the album, which they had released on a disc in 2007.  They didn't release any singles, so there's no b-sides.  But, the mixes make up for it.  It's great stuff, you should like it if you like Harriet, Toni or Ms Fraser.

Unfortunately, they've only released two albums since then, and I didn't find them to be very interesting.  But, they did have an EP called 44 Down from 2002 that was pretty good.  You may check that one out as well....

7 comments:

  1. Hi, the RAR file is corrupt, it does not have the full album. Could you email me the album at MikeXJ220@gmail.com? Thank you!

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  2. Did you check the files in the RAR? It was a new link, but the same file...I download it and unpack it and it's a bunch of random songs by Jimi Hendrix, The Offspring, only a couple by The High Violets.

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    1. Sigh. All the files in the RAR are High Violets files. The TAGS are messed up, as for one reason or another, when I downloaded them, whoever loaded them previously had the wrong tags on them. What you need to do is right-click on the file, go down to the bottom and click on properties, then look for the ID-Tag. You'll have to reload all of that information, as I don't have time and could care less about correcting it. Check my previous post about ID-tags.

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    2. Seriously, if you would listen to the files, you would understand that they aren't Hendrix and Offspring.

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