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Harlem, for Free Drugs ;-)

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I don’t usually do emoticons or their aging cousins, smileys, but, when the record title does, so must I. As the third commandment of the Musical Blogger bible states, “Though shalt not act superior to thy topic, the musician”. Unfortunately, the seventh commandment contradicts somewhat, “Though shalt spew snarky comments as it fits thy art.” I will endeavor to fit squarely in that contradiction today as we discuss an not-exactly new Harlem album, 2008’s Free Drugs ; -). So, gather ’round everyone. Don’t spill your juice. Johnny, watch it with those elbows!

Harlem, the band

Harlem, the band (plus an unidentified stranger)

Harlem, not to be confused with the more well known place, Haarlem, is an Austin-based garage rock band that is exactly as focused on producing serious polished pop gems as their photo suggests. While their website suggests they are “thrash”, I think that qualifies more as a behavioral descriptor than as a musical genre. Not as twitchy as Thee Oh Sees, Harlem’s sound is a little like a drunk Ty Segall after all his his fuzz boxes were stolen. If shoegaze bands have a kind of hazy sound produced by clear-thinking musicians, Harlem seems to have a hazy mind producing clean-sounding music. The only sound effect I’ve heard is reverb and even that may come from some honest abandoned rat-infested warehouse. Despite the clean sound, the lyrics and the playing style are completely what you’d expect out of an over-caffeinated hazy mind.

OK, you may not be thrilled yet. That’s fine, but the song “Friendly Ghost” from their second album, Hippies, is actually the second-most played song on my iPhone. I love it! In first place is … oh dear … never mind. The point is that, out of their chaotic sound, something special can emerge, if you don’t fall over from sheer listening exhaustion first.

Free Drugs ;-) by Harlem

Free Drugs 😉 by Harlem

As an album, Free Drugs ; -) will leave you feeling the end of a 12 hour road trip: too exhausted to do anything, too wired to do nothing. But, if you hold on, you’ll find some real chaotic gems hitting on subject matter you wouldn’t discuss with your mom (Hi mom, I know you’re reading!). Midway through, “Psychedelic Tits” takes you into a throwback swirly garage groove that tells you, “They are the color of a rainbow.” What can you do with that? Listen to it … and feel weird that you enjoyed it. Later on, “Lil Black Cowboy” is almost their version of the White Stripes and is about something, I guess, but, what? “He’s all covered with molasses right from his head to glasses,” you will hear and be as puzzled as me. There’s more. There’s a little bit of the blues mixed with chaotic garage rock. There’s tortured guitar sounds mixed with chaotic garage rock. Once, a guitar solo almost interrupts the chaotic garage rock. You see, it’s basically just chaotic garage rock and that, dear readers, is its major flaw.

Should you listen? That’s a very personal decision, but if you’re a fan of chaotic garage rock, jump in. As for me, I’m happy to be a customer, but this album will be filed under “Once in A While, Not More Than Once A Week” along with many other perfectly decent but imperfect albums.

OK, that’s it for now. Johnny, since you were good, you can go get the nap mats out … Gerald get your hands out of there …

The post Harlem, for Free Drugs ;-) appeared first on Sounds Like Orange.


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