Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Quick-hitters:: Tusks

A quick scan of the sounds like on Tusks myspace kind of says it all; XTC, Steely Dan, Rush, The Sea and Cake, Marvin Gaye, Yacht Rock. Not really a combination you'd expect to fit together necessarily, but man oh man does it. The band is set to release an EP - hopefully in the fall - but they've put a couple tracks up for you to sample.

Mothers vs. Sons starts off beautifully. Graceful keys, a subdued jangle on the electric and keep time drums push the focus onto the 70's influenced harmonies. The song shimmers and you could easily settle in and enjoy the pleasantries for three or four minutes, but they switch it up. Interestingly enough, for the last minute, the pace picks up, along with the piano work and the song really starts to sound like a more mature Voxtrot number (Mother vs. Sons vs. Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Wives???).

Baby Noise is a bit more up tempo, driven by a nice bass line and and a truncated guitar line. Somehow the band is able to mix an almost math rock sound with smooth pop, and when the banged out keys and harmonies come in, you get hooked. Hopefully some label is smart enough to pick this band up, because the EP should find a home in a lot of collections.

If you live in TO, go check these guys out @ the Tranzac on April 2nd.

MP3:: Mothers vs. Sons

myspace
:: web site

Posted at 11:06 AM by ack :: 1 comments

At 12:23 PM, Paul did sayeth:

I caught Tusks opening for The Wooden Stars last year and was definitely impressed. There's also an excellent version of "Mothers vs. Sons" on the Friends In Bellwoods charity album--in fact, that whole collection is pretty damn sweet.

Thanks for the heads up on the concert!