(04.03.07) Recommends:

The Horrors, "Strange House" (Stolen Transmission, forthcoming May 2007).

I've been waiting for this record since I stumbled upon the band's EP last year. So I was excited to have the new album show up in my mailbox this week. The full-length is not quite as constantly explosive as the EP, but it's still a pretty entertaining 35 minutes. It takes us way back to those heady days of circa 2001, when overly fashionable bands were being called on to save rock 'n roll. The history book shelves will eventually be stuffed to the gills with books dissecting the crazy intervening years since 2001. In fact, I think if you were to try to stuff those years into music, it might come out sounding a bit like the Horrors -- crazy, chaotic, on the verge of collapsing all around us. And -- this is the hopeful thing -- there's momentum in this music. And -- wait for it... wait for it -- it seems like momentum in this country is shifting. Things happened in November 2006. I predict things will continue happening in November 2008. So there you have it. You heard it here first: The Horrors sound like our past and our future. And that sounds good enough for me.

The Horrors - Count in Fives - mp3.
The Horrors - Little Victories - mp3.