The Hold Steady are back! I saw these guys earlier this year and they put on
really nice show despite the fact that there were only about 35 fans that
were willing to show up in Houston that night. Apparently Pitchfork was been
hogging their new single and they finally put it up for download on Friday
which means that after listening to it all weekend I figured I better post
it up here and rave about it. The Hold Steady will be hitting the road this
fall and their debut album for Vagrant will drop on October 3rd. I need to
also note how much I appreciate that this band is always working and
creating great album after great album instead of making something neat and
then taking a couple of years off to "think."
:The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!: I actually
heard this song, plus a few other new ones, at the show that I mentioned up
above. Oddly enough, this was the one new song that they played that really
stuck out for me. It is not that it is much different from the rest of their
catalog, it's just that somehow it manages to be a little more fun to sing
along too. Craig Finn's unique delivery along with the band's bar music
sound is still around but this song seems a bit more polished then their
other 2 albums. On the other hand their was a noticeable difference between
"The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me" and "Separation Sunday." I should warn
you that you will probably listen to this song 11 times in a row.
:The Hold Steady - Curves and Nerves: I saw
this B-Side up over at another blog, sadly I don't remember which one, and I
immediately downloaded it to give it a listen. The music and Craig seem a
bit more reserved in this song, not as much as "Killer Parties," but enough
to where it gives you a moment to take a different look at the band. One
thing that is always great is Finn's lyrics and this is another song that
does not fail to give you something smartly said, such as "She didn't get to
the part with the studio's, she went straight to video." There is nothing
there that will explain the meaning of life but the Hold Steady are
storytellers and I think they might be the best.
-
John Laird -
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