The Aliens - Astronomy For Dogs
I was looking through Metacritic’s upcoming release calendar and saw a band called the Aliens with (Beta Band) next to it. I wouldn’t have given them a second look had that parenthesis not been next to it, but am I ever glad I went and gave them a listen. It seems like two of the three Beta Band guys went and started this band with another guy and the best I can describe Astronomy For Dogs is the album I’d always secretly wished Super Furry Animals had made instead of all their crazy weird psychedelic chaos. The Aliens bring back the psychedelic feel of the 60’s and 70’s without over doing it. Listening to the album initially, I kept waiting for that first song to pop up that would inevitably fall into the cheese category that many attempts at psychedelic revivals do. But The Aliens pull it off very well and have crafted an album that has curiously kept my attention this entire week much to my surprise. Normally this isn’t my style of music, but I’ll recommend the Aliens to anyone at this point, hence the reason for this post, because the entire album is full of upbeat dancey tunes like “Robot Man” that are balanced out by the subtlely beautiful downtempo songs such as “She Don’t Love Me Anymore”, which finds the band singing the title over and over behind swarming strings until piano is the only thing left.
Astronomy for Dogs came out late June on Astralwerks, which remains one of my favorite labels, so go listen to their album at their myspace, since it’s streaming there, and decide for yourself. With multiple songs like “Glover”, my favorite of theirs, that tops eight minutes, it’s hard to just give them a passing listen. There’s much to be heard on The Alien’s new album amongst the 11 songs, only 3 of which are under 5 minutes, that I find something new with each listen. Do yourself a favor and check out The Alien’s new album and if you don’t like it, give it to your parents. I can’t almost guarantee they’ll enjoy songs like “Honest Again” which feel very much like a lost Fleetwood Mac song.
01. Setting Sun
02. Robot Man [mp3]
03. I Am The Unknown
04. Tomorrow
05. Rox
06. Only Waiting [mp3]
07. She Don’t Love Me No More
08. Glover
09. Honest Again
10. The Happy Song
11. Caravan
Setting Sun
Official Site / Myspace (stream their album there) / Buy Astronomy for Dogs
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