You do what you do with what you've got
I received a very helpful email the other day from Ian from tech support at Arts and Crafts Records. You'll recall I bought the new Constantines vinyl, Kensington Heights, and I don't have a record player (this is a story in itself; a story for later). Luckily, the album came with a code for a free MP3 download. Unfortunately, my code didn't work. So the emails began.
After two emails in as many days, I got a response. "Your code is missing a letter," the message informed me. "The letter is 'j'." Indeed, the code was missing the letter 'j' for when I added it, the download worked like a charm. So after minor setbacks, here's the review.
If some dude tells you rock is dead, don't listen. Two reasons: 1.) he's probably some 19-year-old hipster wearing neon lightning bolts on his hoodie who repeats everything he reads on Pitchfork, and 2.) He has not heard Constantines. While plenty bands play rock and roll, and while many of those bands play it very hard, few approach the selfless honesty inherent in a Constantines record. Kensington Heights continues this trend.
While the band employs some time-honored rock-and-roll styling (reverb intro, heavy marching bass beat), Contantines' approach to music feels unpretentious. Like on "Million Stars Hotel", guitar riffs plunge whole bodied into a crushing surf of cymbals and bass. Over the top the intense--but somehow non-intrusive--and soulful voice of Bryan Webb.
On the album, tones of grunge are hard to ignore, comparisons range from Chavez to early Afghan Whigs, and the band cites Neil Young as an influence. All this wrapped up in a kick-ass package. Kensington Heights is as much an album for rocking out in the living room as it is an album for mulling introspectively on those lonely trips cross-country.
But the album is not all gold. The song "Credit River" touts a blues rock sound that's a bit too Huey Lewis for my taste, and, IMHO could have been culled from the record. It reminds me of some of the photos people upload to Flickr or Facebook--just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Constantines are touring Canada (with one US stop in Minnesota) in June. Check the tour dates on their website. I'll certainly be checking them out when they play Vancouver. There's also a secret, unlisted show in Victoria. . . but that's all I can tell you, being that it's a secret in all. In fact, I've told you too much already.
Band :: Constantines
Album :: Kensington Heights
Song :: Million Star Hotel
Recommended if you like making devil horn hands while you sing
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