| POSTED BY: JOE PUGLISI
Slam Donahue are part of what I see as the modern Brooklyn anti-art movement to maintain melody in music -- that is, abandoning the hedonistic slave-mentality to experimentation and bringing guitars-n-drums back to their instantly accessible roots. They still have the doughy, rough edged sound of a band firmly rooted in the garage, but you can imagine these songs playing at parties without at least a handful of people groaning about pretentiousness. It's fun, in a way that is unfortunately not as valued by current hipstorians as it should be.
And although some of these songs are destined to monetize Slam via TV syncs -- and is that really a bad thing? -- they all elicit enough varied emotion to stand-up on their own as memorable. The hook on stand-out single "C'mon C'mon" is like first-wave MGMT levels of brain-infiltration, and then later, "Good Morning World" sounds like the band isn't afraid to get weird with it -- within reason. Hemlock Tea, like its namesake, is a refreshing, steamy bit of natural nourishment. It's immediate, odd, and laced with potential. We can't wait to hear more.
