CD Reviews

Cymbals Eat Guitars | Why There Are Mountains

Self-released (2009)

By RYAN STEWART | April 6, 2009

There's good news and bad news about New York quartet Cymbals Eat Guitars and their self-released debut. The good news is that Why There Are Mountains is polished and offers some strong songwriting while still leaving the band enough room to grow into something better.

The young outfit's exuberance comes through everywhere, whether in the fanfare that begins the album opener, "And the Hazy Sea," or in the moment when the guitars are unleashed on "Wind Phoenix." This isn't a particularly original outfit: lead vocalist Joseph D'Agostino sounds like some alternate-universe version of an Isaac Brock who's got his shit together. The sprawling, tempo-shifting arrangements are reminiscent of Built To Spill ("Cold Spring" could be straight off Perfect from Now On), and in their slower, quieter times they resemble the majesty of fine vintage Sunny Day Real Estate. There are worse sources to steal from, of course, so it's tough to complain.

The bad news? These guys are so young, they weren't even in middle school when their more salient influences were doing their best work, so they probably think of the late-'90s-derived stuff as "retro." And that just makes me feel old.

CYMBALS EAT GUITARS + HALLELUJAH THE HILLS + MAGIC MAGIC + YOU CAN BE A WESLEY | Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | May 22 @ 9 pm | 617.864.EAST or www.mideastclub.com

Photo: Cymbals Eat Guitars at Middle East Downstairs
Cymbals Eat Guitars at Middle East Downstairs
Cymbals Eat Guitars | Lenses Alien
It's the most indie-rock-sounding thing you'll hear all year — which means, briefly, Cymbals Eat Guitars sound kinda-sorta conventional.
Review: Theodore Treehouse at Slainte Wine Bar Mardi Gras
A few weeks back, Theodore Treehouse made a brief appearance in this spot, lending the band the quote that now appears on their MySpace page: "Even the bike punks couldn't resist bopping their heads."
Sun Kil Moon
Mark Kozelek is the rare performer in whose hands material by Kiss and John Denver sounds exactly the same.
The year the music thrived
Bad times for the big guys have generally been good news for the rest of us.
Forward into the past!
Could it be just a coincidence that as I sit here writing this, a grizzled Bob Seger is gearing up for the release of Face the Promise , the Detroit rocker’s first proper studio album in, oh, forever and a day? The Lemonheads, "No Backbone" (mp3)
Live and kicking
Yes, we suffer from an embarrassment of riches when it come to live music here in the Boston area.
Skeleton crew
With a sound rooted several thousand miles away in the Pacific Northwest, Figurines prove there’s something brilliant in the state of Denmark.
The OC Mix 6: Covering Our Tracks
Since part of the well-oiled genius of The OC is its blatant appropriation of familiar teen-soap source material, it makes sense that the hit Fox series’s latest mix CD collects covers of tunes most of the show’s viewers likely already know.
Fly by night?
For a decade, Eric Johnson's primary songwriting vehicle has been Fruit Bats, but the Portland-via-Chicago singer and multi-instrumentalist has always dipped in and out of other projects — Califone, Vetiver, Ugly Casanova among them.
Modest Mouse, buzzing bees
“I think this festival is sponsored by large, stinging insects . . . made by Volkswagen,” quipped Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell.
Less

Topics: CD Reviews , Isaac Brock, Built To Spill, Sunny Day Real Estate, More

| More

ARTICLES BY RYAN STEWART

HBO'S VEEP NEEDS MORE MEAN | April 23, 2012
Reality, right now, is so absurd that almost everyone has already adopted a "laugh-to-keep-from-crying" approach to the news. We don't need someone to tell us how truly horrifying our political landscape is. So what's a satirist to do?

NOT MUCH 'MAGIC' ON STARZ'S NEW DRAMA | April 05, 2012
Premium networks play by different rules from the rest of television, but Starz has taken things to a new extreme: they've twice renewed shows before episode one even aired.

REVIEW: HOUSE OF LIES | January 05, 2012
In a television landscape dominated by protagonists who are murderers, drug kingpins, serial philanderers, and other assorted life-ruiners, Showtime may have finally gone too far.

INTERVIEW: TALKING THE WIRE WITH ROBERT F. CHEW | October 12, 2011
Like many cast members on HBO's The Wire, Robert F. Chew is originally from Baltimore and therefore has firsthand experience with much of the urban decay the show depicts.

BREAKING BAD KEEPS TOPPING ITSELF | October 05, 2011
In this age of Hollywood business dealings breathlessly tweeted within minutes of their consummation, passersby cell phone set photos that reveal major plot points, leaked scripts and leaked episodes, Vince Gilligan has accomplished something rare indeed.