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Weird Dreams - Choreography (album)

Crocodiles - Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9) 7”

The Hairs - I’ve Been Working Out 7”

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Album Review

The Dead Trees
Whatwave Affairs of the Heart

Article written by Ged M - Jul 11, 2011

The Dead Trees: Whatwave

A band originally from Boston and then Portland, Oregon, and now resident in Los Angeles, they seem to have picked up a lazy, loping, West Coast rhythm on their travels. Fortified by the Californian sunshine, that gives their songs a positive, upbeat feel. It’s not all sun and fun, though: lyrics variously complain about aging, gentrification of home turf and rich kids (the strange ‘Comfortable Kids’). But there’s a strong melodic pop sense, clearly stimulated by their associations with various Strokes (they were under the wing of Albert Hammond Jr for a couple of tours with him and provided backing for Fabrizio Moretti’s Little Joy project). That link shows through in the Strokes-y guitar-pop on ‘Slow Faze Fast’ while the shuffly beat of 'My Time Has Just Begun' sounds a little like the Cold War Kids when they had something to say. Whatwave is easy listening in the best sense, a record about which you can have no shame in using the term “positive vibes”.

Links:
http://thedeadtrees.tumblr.com/
http://www.affairsoftheheart.de/
http://www.myspace.com/thedeadtrees