Thursday 1 October 2009

Okay, fuck it

I've been putting off this entry for a good few months now - despite knowing exactly who it was going to be on (a band called The Memories Attack) - I guess because I wasn't really sure exactly what I wanted to write, but fuck it, I just listened to a track by the band for the first time in a while, and even if I still wasn't sure what I wanted to write, I sure as hell knew why I wanted to write it. Which is all that matters, right? Obligatory band photo coming up...


The Memories Attack partially pick up where Eric's Trip left off, counting as they do former Trip guitarist Chris Thompson amongst their members, and that gives you some indication as to what they sound like. There's no real departure from Eric's Trip's sound here, with the exception of the occasional embrace of electronically generated sound. In fact there's no real departure from the sound of countless bands. If you want something new and exciting, The Memories Attack probably aren't going to be for you. What they will give you, though, is the at times expert convergence of feedback, melodies and assault on the drum kit - the key components of great indie rock. This is great indie rock.

There's something somewhat inappropriate about the fact that I'm posting about this band now. Two things, really. The first is that the song in question - the song that I double-clicked in iTunes a few minutes before I started writing, thus providing me with the immediate compulsion to write this entry, and the song that I'm about to post a link to - is called 'Summertime'. Indeed, I initially wanted to post this in the middle of July and we could have all appreciated it in a way befitting its title, but while summer seems to cling on to the Northern hemisphere more stubbornly with each passing year, I think it's safe to say that that ship has just about sailed.

More significant, though (I think), is the fact that guitar music hasn't really been of much interest to me lately. I've just become a bit bored and disillusioned by its constant inability to surprise, looking instead to hip-hop and more ambient fare for innovation. So it's all the more impressive that, even in this state of ennui, The Memories Attack can still do enough to truly, genuinely excite me. Like I said, is not as if they're doing anything particularly ground-breaking either, it's just that they're doing what they are doing really fucking well.

So I'm going to post a link to 'Summertime' now, not because I strongly believe in your right to have illegally downloaded music stored on your computer or even because the band don't have a MySpace where you can listen to some a number of their songs to your heart's content, but because they don't have a MySpace where you can listen to this song to your heart's content, and in case you haven't guessed from the enthusiasm with which its caused me to write about the band so far, it's a song which is just about perfect. The solitary bassline at the start, the way it builds... I don't want to ruin it for you, nor do I want to contradict the philosophy I carefully laid out when I started this blog, but it's a song I feel I have to say something about. If The Memories Attack have a mission statement in musical form, this is it. And if there's one song which is going to make you want to hear everything else the band's ever recorded, this is that too.

(Note to band (everyone else stop reading) - If you don't think that's a good enough reason for me to give one of your songs away for free, by all means, let me know and I'll delete it. I just want to give your music the exposure it deserves, not rip anyone off. Note to everyone else (band stop reading) - 'Summertime' is from the band's first album, but ironically, their second album is the stronger as a whole and this one track is probably more indicative of what you get from it than of what you get from the first, so if you want to investigate further, the direction of the second album is the one I suggest you head in. And just to complicate things a bit more, both albums are self-titled.)

The Memories Attack - Summertime

MySpace: www.myspace.com/thememoriesattack

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