How many bands is Peter Buck in or associated with these days? And the same for Scott McCaughey? These two have been a prolific propellant of perfectly succinct power-pop melodics for quite a while. Their third record together as The No Ones, alongside I Was A King‘s Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen and Frode Strømstad, is not going to surprise anyone who is already along for the ride with any of their other bands or recording projects. Their latest ,”My Best Evil Friend”, out on March 31st, is a solid-state record filled with sensible hooks, retro-rock posturing, wrapped in psychedelic blanket of fuzz and groove. It’s absolutely hooky, flowing, and solid modern rock music albeit breaking no new ground; but that’s WHY we like it, right?
There is a song on this album that absolutely SLAYS ME. “Phil Ochs Is Dead” is one of the best things I’ve heard either of these gentlemen record in their careers…and we are talking since the REM and Young Fresh Fellows heydays! The chord changes, the sublime lyrics, the harmony vocals, the chiming guitars, that beautiful chorus, all equal elements of an INSTANT CLASSIC. It sounds like something REM would have birthed during their Document era or maybe one of Scott’s earlier Minus 5 songs. Haunting, foreboding, and eerily brilliant. As they used to say, “It’s a SMASH!” Dig it…
Dancing in the Moonlight of our Existence 