Why are Beach Day not from Brooklyn? Their name suggests indie dream pop, from Beach House to Beach Fossil, and their home , Hollywood Florida, suggests surf and turf, but their sound is New Yawk girl group via the Ramones with a huge dollop of feedback, reverb and a misheard chorus via My Bloody Valentine. In other words, they are awesome and a great way to kick off CMJ 2014.
Riding a pretty good sophomore album, Native Echoes, Cake Shop was a little busy for a 1230pm suggesting I’m not the only person who enjoyed the album. The set was delayed when lead singer guitarist Kimmy Drake had to move her van but once Beach Day settled in, they were very good for a fifteen minute set, leaving a terrific impression with the other full time Beach Day Skyler Black pounding away like a young Taylor Hawkins, Skyler has long stringy blonde hair and he swings his head so widely you think it might fall off any second.
Drake is a better guitarist than you might imagine given the genre, leaving the rhythm to somebody else, she finger picks note and crouches near the speakers, trying to build a wall of sound, guitar sound and Spector sound, merging them together.
Opening with “I’m Just Messing Around” from the new album, the band rides a neat little lick for all its worth and if the song sounds like basic melody punk stuff, “Don’t Call Me On The Phone” is as much Shirelles as Ronettes and by the “oooh ooh ohhs” the band have become licensed forebearers to any thing you’ve ever heard. Yet, they have more than one sound their working on and with the penultimate song of the set, they have stepped away from nyc 1965-1977 and seem to be building towards a bigger more powerful sound. Maybe the two new members are giving them room to maneuver.
So the first band of 2014 and if everybody is as good as Beach Day it should be a fun week.
Grade: B+
