Presenting: Blastoids!

Let's talk about genre for a second. While watching Blastoids play 255 last night, a thought occured to me: At some point, people stopped calling it 'ripping off Chuck Berry' and started calling it 'rock and roll.' What made me think this was that in order to accurately describe Blastoids' music I had to either a) take the easy way out by simply saying they sound a lot like Animal Collective or b) take the annoying way out by attempting to coin a snappy new genre name under which to file the band. Well, I'd rather be called lazy than annoying, so here goes:

Blastoids trade in the kind of amorphous electro-tribal jams that have been popping up more and more frequently in this post-Merriweather Post Pavilion world. Animal Collective's looming influence over their music is sure to turn some people off, but who cares about those people? While they're off dismissing Blastoids as mere "rip-offs", others are sure to be mesmerized, as I was, by the band's unique take on this brave new genre (there, I said it).

To say they just "sound like Animal Collective" is to sell the band short. Sure, Joe Volmer's and Tyler Walker's dual electronics/vocals attack is bound to sound a bit too familiar to AC "purists," but I can't recall ever hearing drumming as frenetically precise as that of Charlie Hareford on anywhere, Animal Collective or otherwise. The man plays like Zach Hill would if he didn't feel the need to change tempo every other second, and his complex yet steady beats are a perfect compliment to the melodies supplied by Volmer and Walker, which as often as not fall a lot further into "traditional" territory than most neo-weirdo-electro bands ever dare to go, and I mean that in a good way.

So is it time to start inventing new words to describe music? Let someone else decide; I'm too busy listening.

[mp3s]
Blastoids - "Cowboy"
Blastoids - "Kenny Winker"
(both taken from Blastoids' self-released CD-R)

Blastoids hail from Murfreesboro, TN and are currently 30 days into a 45-day tour culminating in an appearance at Whartscape 2009 at Baltimore's Wham City. Check the dates here, and if they're coming near you, by all means check them out!