Checked out Future Islands last night at Mercury Lounge and was actually hoping that they might have copies of this at their merch table but no dice. It's insane to just watch Sam onstage, he's a complete maniac, working himself up into a frenzy, grabbing at himself, possessed. Singing like no one else...I have to track down some of his earlier projects to hear where this sound came from. It's completely unique...here's this new order sounding bass over a drum machine and he's just losing his shit, growling every word. It was packed, and any kind of movement was near impossible, but I could see him willing this energy into everything. And then he's a normal guy, telling stupid jokes, shooting the shit while they work on a fucked up cable...and then it's back to beating himself up. You get something of an idea what Iggy Pop might have looked like confronting an audience. It's not dangerous, just the same kind of bizarre. They played Ink Well last night and it's one of the slower plodding ballads with swirling synth and his soul crooning rage.Meanwhile Lonnie Walker is at a contemporary take of southern country, story songs, electric fingerpicking. It's a weird mix, brought together by a shared geography.
Get it from Friends Records.
Future Islands and Lonnie Walker both grew up in North Carolina, mostly near the beach. Core members of each group have been life-long friends, have at times played in the same band, and also went off to college together. While one group churns out synth pop that will make your heart twist and your feet bounce, the other supplies country punk fit for any type of DIY hoedown.
SHIPS NOVEMBER 2010
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