FACE con-trol

oh my god, you guys.

i guess, i really, really like the handsome furs.

whoda thunk?

i mean, yeah. . . i heart me some wolf parade. their modest mouse meets arcade fire meets whatever the funk canadian whirlwind jamtasms are in a world of their own (wp). "california dreamer," "this heart's on fire," "shine a light," all amazing songs.

but.

wolf parade couldn't get my booty shakin. not like handsome furs. apparently hf is made up of wp's lead vocal slice dan boeckner and his hottie wife alexei perry. and i've read their name in blog after blog. zine after article. after publicity releases. word of mouth. etc. but i just pocketed the name as food for thought, another name to drop in my wolf parade review.

but daaaaaaaaaaamn. i have no idea what the duo's first release sounds like. face control is set for release in feb or march, i think. (it is possible it was recently release, but i'm not sure off the top of my head).

the record opens up with "legal tender," "evangeline," and "talking hotel arbat blues," quite possibly the most solid 3-consecutive track opening sequence to any release i've heard in ages.

the single "i'm confused," AWESOME. (you can stream it at stereogum.com, fyi). "all we want, baby, is everything" is on the brink of elvis/nashville/rockabilly country pop. "thy will be done?" incredible. "officer of hearts?" forget about it.

seriously, i dare you to listen to this album and find a song that isn't ridiculously catchy or super synth fun dance madness--and i drop that comparison in the least obnoxiuos reference possible, even my roommate, who enjoys dance parties but not so much the music, digs these guys. it's dance party that's universally awesome. cool enough for the indie kids. dancey enough for the dance sluts. rock cred enough for the critics or stoner crowd. fucking delicious enough for everyone else.

just the other day i was chatting with a pal on gchat, discussing our fave albums/songs/concerts of 2008. my friend mentioned that the kanye show was absolutely "mindblowing," and we agreed that kanye can put out some pretty incredible albums. this got me thinking on how i missed coming across a simply incredible album, something that jumped out and bit me on the ass after first inital listening.

now, this may be the glass of merlot talking, but i've got a pretty good hunch that "face control" by the handsome furs may be just that. that album. that just KILLLLLZ it is so hot.

dancey, electro orchestral manipulated pop. post punk? familiar yet so estranged. boeckner is one hell of a vocalist, i can tell you that. i just read on the chicago reader's "coming attractions" email that HF is set to rock the empty bottle in early March. you better goddamn believe i'll be there. how could i pass up such intense, catchy dark dance beats a mere 20 minute bus ride away when these 2 canadians are always busy with their other bands?

oh man. i'm totally rambling. but the point is, right here, in my bedroom, in the middle of this cold version of hell frozen over, on a wednesday night at 9:26 pm in chicago, illinois, january 14th, i'm LOVING the handsome furs album so much that i can ramble insisently for 20 minutes straight and still not finish all that i want to say.

a formal review will be soon to follow, kids.

this is safe to say.

on a side note, other than the HF record, I got some other kewl stuff:

*my nike version 6.0 hightops with the gold speckles and swoosh, pink soles, white lining came today. all the assholes at work called them "hipster shoes" and kept making fun of me. all this proves is that scientific voice is very unhip if they base their epitamy of hipness off of me.

*i dyed my hair bright dark red

*i got my hairs cut in a super rad bob with blunter, shorter, almost tegan/sara if they weren't as angular bangs.

so this makes me happy. ahh.

time to polish off my book. g'nite children.

p.s: party @ my crib sat night. u should come.)