23

They've been fielding Sonic Youth comparisons for as long as I can remember, but with their last LP Misery is a Butterfly, Blonde Redhead did that thing where they came unto their own.

I was surfing around their website, and found out that these 4AD (Modern English, Cocteau Twins, The Pixies) vets are releasing a new CD in April. Being a huge fan of their previous albums (specifically the aforementioned Misery and Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons), I snatched up the single off their forthcoming album and gave it a much needed listening-to.

The track in particular, "23" (pronounced "two-three," vice "twenty-three") starts off with distorted guitars, a persistent beat, and lead singer Kazu Makino's ghostly vocals. They do their thing perfectly here — anyone with a heart for 4AD nostalgia would do well to check this one out. It blends Blonde Redhead's signature weirdness with classic shoegaze elements — over-the-top guitars, a wall-of-sound approach, and that tingly feeling you get shortly thereafter.

–Gus