Facts on File

LA’s own intellectual art-rock trio, Facts On File, celebrated the release of their album Bring It Back at El Cid. In front of geometric projections, the band performed an uptempo set featuring driving bass lines, snap-crackling snares, and growly guitar. The sound is something that could have echoed from a basement in Olympia, WA back in the 90s, if somehow those riot rockers had convinced Byrne or Bowie to lend vocals to the band. It’s not hard to imagine this music beaconing out across music festival grounds in the future, spurring sweaty festival-goers to jump around in the sun. - LA Record

Post punk brilliance, starting with the minimalist shapes and color tones of the cover artwork and topped by a batch of excellent songs. The trio’s music – equal parts drone, punk energy, rolling bass notes, twisted surf guitar lines, stop start vocals and more add up to a sound that harkens back to mid-eighties UK bands such as Jesus and Mary Chain or Echo and the Bunnymen. On the American side of things, think combos like Jonathan Richman and the Unknowns, with more than a bit of sixties melodic sensibilities and plenty of reverb. The ten tracks all hold up well, with just enough garage rock kick to make it an album you’ll want to play loud. Favorite tune at the moment is opener “The Flood” which sounds like the Mighty Lemon Drops until it hits 2:06 and moves into Cramps territory for awhile. Also tops is “What You Want” with staccato vocal intro and near spy/ surf guitar intro – it’s quirky and good, while “Get to know Me” adds a bit of bubblegum pop to the mix – great song. It took a couple of plays, but this album is a real grower. - San Diego Troubadour

Facts on File sound like a project David Byrne might've started in his garage in 1976, not such a bad thing for fans of angst-y post-punk or avant-garde pop... In sum, the album could be the soundtrack to this generation's uncertain future - or at least the dance party we throw to celebrate the present. - Buzz Bands LA

gritty and carefree, but with a hint of class. The three-piece creates infectious '60s-inspired pop tunes that burrow deep in your eardrums and invoke dance parties wherever they are played. - Deli Magazine

please meet Facts on File - a Los Angeles based three-piece indie rock outfit. The trio crafts songs that modernize 60's garage rock and 1970s New York punk, putting a spin on pop structure that draws comparisons to Talking Heads, Gang of Four and The Cars, with hints of Suicide and a synth-free Devo. - - Filter Magazine

Welcome to the last edition of Discover the Undiscovered for 2011 and please meet Facts on File - a Los Angeles based three-piece indie rock outfit. The trio crafts songs that modernize 60's garage rock and 1970s New York punk, putting a spin on pop structure that draws comparisons to Talking Heads, Gang of Four and The Cars, with hints of Suicide and a synth-free Devo. - Filter Magazine

- gritty and carefree, but with a hint of class. The three-piece creates infectious '60s-inspired pop tunes that burrow deep in your eardrums and invoke dance parties wherever they are played. - Deli Magazine LA

Facts on File sound like a project David Byrne might've started in his garage in 1976, not such a bad thing for fans of angst-y post-punk or avant-garde pop... In sum, the album could be the soundtrack to this generation's uncertain future - or at least the dance party we throw to celebrate the present. - Buzz Bands LA

Heroes take on this mad mash-up is that this all came about from a lab mishap during the Human Genome Project Part 1. Part 1 took place years before the successful work completed in the 1990's. You see what happened was a sleep-deprived intern named Megan crashed her test tube cart into a glass cabinet filled with lively beekers of DNA. This DNA came from the remarkable samples of Alec Ounsworth, David Byrne and Kate Pierson. The short story is the collision and resulting new DNA became the basis for the members of Facts on File. They were genetically disposed to create this music that makes me smile and shake-a-leg to these carefree and joyful tunes. - Heroes of Indie Music

The band Facts on File occupy a pretty specific time in music, when people like Television and Talking Heads were on the scene. These bands were creating a brand new sound, but going about it in a roundabout way. They embraced punk to a certain extent, but what they seemed to be striving for was to bring rock ‘n' roll back down to eye-level; they still loved the art form, but rejected the bloat. Facts on File have keyed in on this minimalism. - The Weekly Volcano

Facts on File formed in 2006 in San Francisco and relocated to LA in 2008. They're currently touring the West Coast in support of their two-song 7” “Keep it Together,” which neatly showcases the band’s dynamic and feels like the perfect way to be introduced to these pop rockers.

The title track is a warm organ/bass/drums thumper that matches a nonchalant Yo La Tengo rhythmic feel with a big Cars hook. They keep the track simple, while maintaining a nuanced balance between the urgency and the bubblegum, with singer Joseph White’s voice becoming unraveled as if he is frantically trying to hold on till the end of the song.

On the B side they produce a colder, more alienated tone, swapping jagged, overdriven guitar riffing for the organ. It’s a heavier sound, showing an affinity for the New York punk scene of the late 1970s. White’s baritone-falsetto voice is bound to draw comparisons to David Byrne’s, but fortunately for the Facts, White avoids affectation and mimicry and is able to carry the record with the perfect amount of quirkiness. - Wiretap Music

Facts on File is getting ready to release a debut seven-inch. Driven by a rolling baseball park-sounding organ and a healthy amount of post-punk angularity, “Keep it Together” sounds like a slick update of the stuff Elvis Costello and the Attractions were doing in the late Seventies. - FMLY Blog