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Record Hop [all hail North Texas!]


Sounds Like: Thom Yorke, if Thom Yorke were a girl from Denton who played in a punky grunge band.

RIYL: The Jesus Lizard, Geraldine Fibbers, The Apes, sitting in the corner of a bar taunting hipsters

Response: I ask that you please take note of the un-contemporary (I hesitate to say "old-fashioned") nature of the bands in the "recommended if you like" line. I did that on purporse. Why? Because Record Hop's sound elicits scenes from a bygone era I fondly refer to as "the 90s". An era that saw the rise of dark, dirty music clubs where the walls would sweat more than the audience. The Record Hop dredges up these images for one primary reason: they're from Texas. Texans, you see, have never really been on board with any trend. They can be genre bending and/or genre defining, but they'd never admit it. Texans would hurt me if I said it, but they're kind of America's France. Or perhaps more accurately, America's Quebec (chill out, longhorns, I'm paying you a compliment).

On their latest self-titled and Albini-produced album, Record Hop exemplify this typical, "up yours" Texas attitude: heavy guitar riffs, big baseline, and a singer with Karen O-qualities that make her voice sound so massive it seems impossible that it originated from such a slight frame. And while they fit nicely into the genre of classic grunge there are qualities here for fans of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Mint Chicks: their roots run deep, but on each track something fresh blooms.

You can download their songs here from TXMF. Go forth and rock out!

Band :: Record Hop

Album :: Record Hop

Song :: Rocket Seance


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