The other day I was flipping through Sirius (Howard Stern wasn’t on the air at the time) and I caught a tune by Smith Westerns. I recognized the name as one of the many CDs on my “to listen” shelf. It’s uncommon that I get a submission by a band that gets any airplay to speak of, being that I focus exclusively on independent artists and mostly on those who don’t have the backing of budgets for powerful press agents. So it got my attention.

On the always-terrific Fat Possum label, Smith Westerns make lo fi garage pop–few songs are more than three minutes–that is by and for the full-of-youth. It’s fun music, light and indulgent, with sunny hooks and carefully placed fuzz. A stand out cut, “End of the Night,” is the perfect example: A retro, familiar bassline, lyrics like “everybody wants to be a star on a Saturday night” and “it’s the end of the night, are we gonna go home?”, tight harmonies, and a swirling hook make for a catchy tune that’ll hang on to you for days. Like something ELO might have done if Jeff Lynne had been a girl-crazy high schooler born in the 1990s. Sweet crisp glammy pop. Just the way we like it here at Berkeley Place.

Cop it from the label for just .89 cents a song!

End of the Night
http://player.groovebat.com/player.swf