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eMusic Contributor

Amelia Raitt is a former writer for the television program Mr. Belvedere and has been writing about pop music of all colors and stripes for eMusic since 2005. S...more »

04.22.11

Hysterics, Hysterics

2008 | Label: Big Scary Polar Bear Productions / The Orchard

Were the members of Hysterics even alive when the records that inspired their sound were first released? The quartet of high schoolers ably, awesomely mine the sound of the late '60s, stacking rolled gold harmonies atop sterling silver guitars, writing swell songs for sunny Saturdays. Oliver Ignatius has a voice like incense and peppermints, and the songs perfectly support his magnificent tones. The cheekily titled "I Played Her Pet Sounds/She Showed Me Diff'rent Strokes" plays like a canny rewrite of the Turtle's "Eleanor" and "What Swallows a Rainbow" is all gliding melodies and grand strums. It's a perfect distillation of a decade's worth of pop records. Is this what they're teaching in school these days? If so: keep it up.

Completely different band...

...from the Allmusic bio on the artist page. The album page is correct! These Hysterics are the high-school group that got an MTV spot back in 2005 thanks to their appearance on Music for Robots. They aim for garagey power pop, and on this album they nail it. The mixing is a little vague in places (like track 8), and not every song is a masterpiece (I'm looking at you, track 10), but most of these are classic. Why do more people not know this band?

British Invasion

Hysterics has a sound a lot like The Apples in Stereo or a '60s British Invasion group. I enjoyed most of the tracks which two were free, tracks 2 and 5. Track 5 is 3/4/2008 daily download and Track 2 can be had from the eMusic SXSW Sampler which is also Track 2 on that album. Try the samples and download what you like, I think you will find most of the tracks enjoyable. Too early for any recommendations, but will give them a good listen and put another review with what I like. So far Tracks 2 and 5 are good.