New York City. It's huge, sprawling, epic, dirty, big, strangely familiar but totally foreign. These are the same qualities that you could use to describe the Blam and their second amazing album. Drawing equally from the New York sound of the Calla, the Strokes, Interpol et al, the Blam never forgets the British sounds that created that sound in the first place, like Eno and Bowie. Alternating between noisy, fuzzed out stomps, like the klaxon call of the opener "Death or Glory" to shimmering softness of "Calm Down", the Blam cover many of the best sounds of many of the best bands on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
It isn't until the title track comes blaring, propelled by Itamar Ziegler's unstoppable bassline, that you see the full majesty of the Blam's work. But then, like a thief in the night, they are off on another tangent with the almost Flaming Lips-like "How Did the Flies Get In", with its whimsical guitar line and Beach Boy harmonies over the droning end. This is hands down one of the most promising and well written albums of 2004… it's early, mind you, but we are off to a damn good start…
What I really enjoy about this record is songwriter and vocalist Jerry Adler's rejection of irony and stance. This record is beautiful and lacks all pretension. It is a pure work of love and appreciation and hard work, instead of a simple nod to someone else's ideas and work. Like I have been told, it is so easy to criticize and copy, but creation of something new is another story.
- Grant Capes | 2004-05-04
