Reviews

My Ruin

Dead Years Night Thoughts LP

There seems to be no shortage of coldwave/post-punk/deathrock bands at the moment, and frankly, I love it. Go ahead and add Germany’s DEAD YEARS to the list. On Night Thoughts, they play a cool brand of post-punk, sometimes reminding me of a more propulsive HOME FRONT and sometimes reminding me of an Oi! band minus the saxophones and tough-guy gang vocals. Speaking of, the dual vocals are a nice touch and add some depth and nuance to the proceedings. I will say, the record is a little long for my taste, and some of the tunes do blend together about halfway through. This is no dealbreaker; in fact, it’s probably just my social-media-addled attention span that’s the problem. Anyways, the songwriting is solid, and on tracks like “Into the Dark” and “Mind Circle,” DEAD YEARS really take off.

Tú La Llevas Tú La Llevas LP

There’s a certain nostalgia at the core of this band’s sound, harkening back to when indie was a methodology and labels like Matador were standard bearers of guitar pop that stood left of center. The band’s name is even an homage to YO LA TENGO, so the mission statement is pretty clear. There’s a sort of dreaminess to the shimmering guitar and plaintive vocal melodies that really lands, lending depth and substance to what is ultimately a brisk listen. It’s not exactly life-changing, but it will bring a nice breeze to your day. It’s definitely exciting to hear music that calls back to a particularly rich era of indie rock that seems all but forgotten in today’s landscape in which “indie” can fill arenas. This harkens back to something simpler, personal, and expressive.