Boyskout

• Author: testWriter
• Published: Thursday, June 07, 2007
  
  

• Boyskout released their sophomore effort, Another Life (Three-Ring Records), in October 2006, and I'm still not sick of it. Better yet, I'm still enthralled by it. Indeed, I'd say that Another Life was one of my favorite local releases of 2006. Wanna know why?

  Another Life meets my need for rock, roll, synth, punk, and a veritable cornucopia of genres that don't usually mesh – or so you'd think. Retro boy band (think 1950s) meets Sleater-Kinney meets the Cure. It's all here and it's all good. Front woman Leslie Satterfield's velvety, throaty warble—along with the band's distinctive guitar riffs—tie it all together in a sweet little package.

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  Boyskout released their sophomore effort, Another Life (Three-Ring Records), in October 2006, and I'm still not sick of it. Better yet, I'm still enthralled by it. Indeed, I'd say that Another Life was one of my favorite local releases of 2006. Wanna know why?

  Another Life meets my need for rock, roll, synth, punk, and a veritable cornucopia of genres that don't usually mesh – or so you'd think. Retro boy band (think 1950s) meets Sleater-Kinney meets the Cure. It's all here and it's all good. Front woman Leslie Satterfield's velvety, throaty warble—along with the band's distinctive guitar riffs—tie it all together in a sweet little package.

  I guarantee that you won't be disappointed. I guarantee.

  Although the entire album is worth listen after listen, let me tell you about a few of my favorite tracks…

  You've heard it before… save the best for last. "Track 12" ("Baby You Can Drive My Car"), takes the Beatles classic and does something, shall we say, postmodern. Indeed, "Track 12" is still uniquely a Beatles song, uniquely a product of its time. But some way, somehow, Boyskout makes it their own with Satterfield's affected deadpan and, again, those hooky guitars. It's Boyskout through and through and I love it.

  And while we're on the subject of covers, let's discuss "The Model", borrowed from Kraftwerk's 1976 album The Man-Machine. Here, violinist/keyboardist Christina Stanley's detached, sultry vocals propel the song to a strangely compelling new level of post-industrial disaffection. The marriage of the lyric's postmodern ennui, Stanley's vocals, and the stripped-bare instrumentation provide fresh commentary about feminine ideals and consumer culture that are just as fresh today as they were 30 years ago.

  But what of Boyskout's original work? Once again, the band doesn't disappoint. Another Life starts off strong with "Spotlight," which serves up guitar tricks and vocal shifts laid over a drumbeat that'll stick with you. Then, of course, the poppy, dancey 1950s lilt of "Everbody Knew" is there to remind you that Boyskout is no one-trick pony.

  Boyskout rarely falls short, and never in a way that makes you want to cover your ears, turn off your iPod, and give up on indie. No, with a tweak here and a tweak there, Boyskout will be that band—the one whose work keeps you coming back again and again, year after year. And, really, what more could you want in a band?

• Categories:Album review
• Genera:None
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