Phantom Family Halo/Invaders Preview Part 2

CROSS/INVADERS/PHANTOM FAMILY HALO at AL'S BAR
601 N. Limestone
(Tonight) Thursday November 19, 2009
All Ages, $3

Sooo, I hope it didn't appear that I was trying to slight Invaders in my lengthy dealings with Phantom Family Halo last entry. I just didn't have the time to finish the entry at the moment. (And I'm also definitely not trying to slight Lexington's CROSS, I just don't have any albums of theirs to listen to & stew over, probably because they are a relatively new band and they don't have any albums. I have caught them live a couple times, though not with the current line-up, and it's always super rad and super different, just like Warmer Milks, the former band featuring Cross's Mikey T and Clint Colburn [to clarify, they don't sound just like the Milks, but they are always super rad and super different like the Warmer Milks were].)

Here's an adapted version of my review of Invaders' 'Floating' for WRFL.

I was hooked on Louisville's Invaders from the first track I heard ("Couldn't Come"), a couple months ago on their MyFace page. Lucky for all of us, their entire new album (I believe it's their first) happens to completely slay from start to finish.

This album manages to be dreamy and feel-good and dark and forboding all at the same time. The songs are tight and structured, with riffs and driving percussion, but just enough garage noise, distortion and shrieking to make it interesting (without getting too aloof). They've achieved a really sexy and sophisticated sound for being such a new band (I assume they are a pretty new band but I honestly couldn't find much history info on them). Definite 1990's British vibes – lush, dense shoegazey soundscapes shrouded in fuzzy-yet-Hope-Sandoval sounding female vocals. There's something nostalgic about it. But there's something new I can't really place.

This album got me sincerely excited for wherever it is that this band is going. Judging from the recent slew of Karate Body releases, it would appear the historically amazing underground music scene in Louisville is totally alive and well.

RIYL: Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Thee Oh Sees, Tom Tom Club, Atlas Sound