ROCKSNOB: Clap Yer Hands And Say ‘Meh’

ED KING REPORTS: Hey, I came across two tracks from the upcoming Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album, Some Loud Thunder! Check ’em out at their website! You kids still trying to squeeze into your Garanimals may want to free up space on your iPod when this bad boy hits the streets on January 30! If hearing these previews leaves you too thunderstruck to comment, let me do so for you! There’s a track called “Love Song No. 7” (a title construction that rarely bodes well) that is 4:31 of “Lick My Love Pump”-style piano chords, a bit of Syd Barrett cri de coeur that can’t get a head of steam so devolves into vaguely Spaghetti Western twang and whistling and then contrapuntal backing vocals! Wow, gotta give them props for working so hard to bail out on a song’s initial direction! This captain’s willing to go down with the ship! Speaking of sinking, “Underwater (You and Me)” starts as a pleasant little stomp, with quintuple-tracked vocals, a symphony of tambourines, and deep-sea atmospheric touches! Five minutes into the song, there has not been one change in dynamics, structure, chords, and emotional weight! Expressions centering on the joy of young love run out of steam after a few minutes, lads! You’re gonna lose that girl with that incessant whining! Take it from me, you won’t move half as many units, but you’ll grow the hell up!