Stricken City

OK. Favorite band of the past month here (Gaslight Anthem silver, Muslims bronze). As I mentioned before (are you still LOVING "Tak o Tak"?!?!?!?), Stricken City summon my lost love for Life Without Buildings, mix in Altered Images, early early Siouxsie, a dose of Bow Wow Wow, and much of the current "the 80s are back but with a new twist" scene (done much more dutifully in the UK, mind you). The rather pop-art videos ("Tak of Tak", "Lost Art") further confirm the utter amalgam of stated influences (per Myspace: namely "first love", "photos of the Beatles in Hamburg", and releases like the Spiral Scratch EP and the Colossal Youth LP) and it's the most entertaining thing I've come across in months (besides this Comet Gain "press release" which kills me). Please please please come to SXSW. I'll be at your feet in the first row.

Stricken City - "Lost Art".
Stricken City - "Five Metres Apart".

The Muslims

I mentioned them once before and have since been ear-glued to their Velvets / Modern Lovers strum. "Parasites" pummels it's primarily solitary chord right into you with floor-tom driven monotony while "Beside Myself" takes an alternative route and riff teases it's way all about you. Good on you San Diego (buy it now).

The Muslims - "Parasites".
The Muslims - "Beside Myself".

The Gaslight Anthem

I still remember the grit and grime of my first visit to New Jersey many years ago when I found myself couped up in an after-midnight Hackensack diner booth waiting for my work colleagues to fly into Newark. I still remember the over-aged waitress, her chain-smoker stench and her hilarious retelling of far too many failed relationships. She killed the final dregs of her shift in my booth, as amused by my West Coast innocence as I was by her wrinkled, "I've seen things you can't even imagine" vibe. Her posture and manner reminded you that here was a fighter. Here was somebody that no man, circumstance, community, or underpaying job could hold down. Blue-collar soul in spades.

"No retreat. No regrets. Meet me by the river's edge. We're gonna wash these sins away."

And as I listen to The Gaslight Anthem, I can't imagine them coming from anywhere but Springsteen's Jersey. This is music built in overcoming. Music that is honest with life in all of its vagaries. No pretense or bull. You see, Jersey to me (beyond the affluent areas) has always seemed like the kind of place that would gladly break you if you let it. And if you didn't, it would give you a spine of steel. This is the soundtrack for the latter with choruses laden with hooks, hope, and triumph. And man I love it. (Buy it now; this entire album is solid).

"No surrender, my Bobby Jean".

The Gaslight Anthem - "The '59 Sound".
The Gaslight Anthem - "High Lonesome".
The Gaslight Anthem - "Meet Me At The River's Edge".