Ears Like Golden Bats

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Total Tracks: 14   Total Length: 37:55

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J. Edward Keyes

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J. Edward Keyes has been writing about music for nearly 15 years, a fact he occasionally finds terrifying. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Village V...more »

04.22.11
Brooklyn band revives the best bits of jangle-pop
2007 | Label: My Teenage Stride / TuneCore

The brainchild of Brooklyn's Jed Smith, Ears Like Golden Bats is one of the year's most thrilling surprises, an album that wraps wry gallows humor in glistening guitars and whistling synths. No shrinking violet, Smith snatches the best bits of classic Antipodean bands like the Chills, the Bats, David Kilgour and the Go-Betweens and re-combines them in canny, charming ways. "To Live & Die in the Airport Lounge" is a majestic, Murmur-ing tangle of chords, the title track bounces a rubbery bassline across a bed of synths and "Depression Kicks" boasts a guitar line that would make Barney Sumner go green. Golden Bats offers the right kind of familiarity — it's a record that builds on rather than steals from.

Lyrically, Smith is a gleeful malcontent The first words on the record are "God bless the criminal," and its remainder is filled with tales of sad sacks and pessimists who never built a bridge they wouldn't burn. "Reversal," a canny re-write of the Chills '"Pink Frost," is one long festival of denial, Smith grimly intoning: "When you feel alright/ reversal!/ when you sail alright/ reversal!"

Golden Bats is a sparkling ode to cynical sentiment. At a time when dwindling attention… read more »

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perfect pop

josh_lerner

The sound is familiar, but the songwriting is spectacular. You'll find yourself loving almost every song, and listening over and over again. This has been in constant rotation for most of the year, and I'm still not tired of it.

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So what if I've heard it all before. It's still OK

Cecilanne

Yeah, the Chills are here, but even more so is Eno at his poppiest. "To Live and Die in The Airport Lounge" could have fit very comfortably on Here Come the Warm Jets, Another Green World, or Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). I also detect a smidge of Morrisey. Not to mention Talking Heads, Love Tractor, and numerous other jittery 80s popsters. But so what? Pop music is nothing if not derivative, and at least here they've chosen to pick some pretty good influences and I found myself nodding in time more often than not.

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hmm?

woodbeehits

right, except he was very upfront about "Reversal" being a straight homage, so it's not like they're trying to get away with anything. I mean how do you think pop music carries on, without people ripping off each other and re-appropriating it. I think it's a fabulous album.

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Salted Lincoln you are so right!

kiwimoira

Wow! It is straight up rip off - guys check out the Chills. Much better

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like peter hook tickling johnny marr's bum

boyhowdy

listening to this makes an hour-long bus commute a pleasure cruise. i swear some days i just have to take a break from this rekkid just to keep from overdosing. appropriating without cloying over-indulgence, these songs reflect was so right about 80s manq pop. download it and listen while reading "how nonviolence protects the state." your life will change.

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Holy Dunedin Sound Batman!

Salted-Lincoln

Well catchy to be sure but the influence of antipodean bands on some of these tracks extends to an uncomfortably literal level on some of these tracks. It would be charitable to call 'Reversal' an acutely observed homage to The Chills 'Pink Frost'. The less charitable might call it a straight-out rip.

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Back to the 80s

Cman

First 3 songs are must downloads. Especially "Airport Lounge," a song that in any sane world would be a hit, and seems as comfortable on the radio today, as it would have been in 1984. There is definitely an 80s feel to the entire collection, but mostly it comes off as influence, rather than throwback (although a couple songs tread a little to closely to those poppy dance bands of the early 80s). Lyrically, its interesting, contemporary, and sometimes cynical. Musically, its uplifting, jangly and generally easy on the ears.

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Thanks for the Free Track

Mousepotato

I discovered the free track "To live and die in an Airport Lounge", I downloaded it, kept it, and am now exploring their other cds. Thanks emusic!

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5 stars

DearCatastrophe

If you like pop music at all, you will love this! Grabs you from the first bar and goes on from there. Totally recommended, 5 stars.

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They Say All Music Guide

There are two ways to look at a band like My Teenage Stride. You could say they are guilty of robbing the sound of a bunch of genius bands they have no hope of ever topping, or you could say their sound is a successful synthesis of many strains of indie pop music of the last 20-plus years that ends up sounding unique and fresh. (A partial list of the bands and sounds includes Orange Juice, New Order, the Trash Can Sinatras, the Go-Betweens, the entire Sarah roster, C86, shoegaze, and the Postcard label.) On their debut album, Ears Like Golden Bats, the band falls somewhere in between. It’s true that you can go through on a track-by-track basis and do some pretty serious trainspotting (“That Should Stand for Something” is late-period Jesus and Mary Chain, “Ears Like Golden Bats” is Josef K, “The Genie of New Jersey” is the Field Mice, to name a few spots), which can get distracting,. It’s also true that the band has used their obvious influences well and come up with quite a few memorable songs like the propulsive “To Live and Die in the Airport Lounge,” the hugely hooky “Reversal,” and “We’ll Meet at Emily’s.” In the end, strong songs like these, Jebadiah Smith’s melancholy but not mopey voice, the raw and echoey production, and the band’s unflagging energy amount to a free pass on the plagiarism charge this time out. – Tim Sendra

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