The New Centuries

http://blanathema.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/the-new-centuries-theyre-here-to-make-you-dance/

We’re back on the west coast of America today and really loving it, too. The New Centuries is a San Francisco based band that makes some incredibly infectious indie-rock music that at times has quite a strong ‘dancey’ feel to it. I’ve been listening to their music continuously since last Thursday and have given the songs a bit of time because despite knowing they were brilliant the second I heard them from their Myspace page, they quickly began to grow on me even more with every listen. It seem this trend continues for quite a long time, with each track still getting better and better every time I play it on my iPod.
Let’s start with Midnight Shows, as it’s the first track I heard from them, albeit a very muddy, base-heavy recording done on a boom box recorder. Once I got myself a copy of the ‘proper’ version, I’ve enjoyed it ten times as much. This is the track that’ll really get you dancing, with a smashing bass line and equally brilliant vocal lines, it really tells you all you need to know about the New Centuries.

Whilst Midnight Shows is a rapid-moving, stormer, Stockton Street Tunnels is a slightly more chilled version, though not half as child as diminish that unavoidable urge to dance. It’s got a lovely 70s/80s, synth-sounding (I’m not really sure) rhythm in the background. The vocals on this track are also a little more forthcoming and interesting than on Midnight Shows; it’s what makes this song work so well. Also, the guitar solo in the middle, with that synth line and a bit of percussion make it all the better.

Elsewhere, Middle Years has more of those keyboards, just wrapped around a slightly more guitar-orientated song. Middle Years is probably also the best place to get to grips with some of those immensely edgy vocals, as sung by Ryan Bogart. Overall, with the exception of Midnight Shows, this is probably the New Centuries’ best piece of music. As I said, I’ve been listening to their music for quite a few days now, pretty often throughout the day, too. Placing them on my regular play list for work and college has allowed me to witness the pure enjoyment and sense of energy that you can find in their music. Each song carries its own eighties disco-esque tinge but also shows signs of being well aware of the modern world. Without trying to immerse you too much in just one area of their influences, the New Centuries have brought together bits of arrangements from right across the board, throwing them into the melting pot to provide some of the most contagious indie-rock, certainly on a par with the likes of Animator by Pull Tiger Tail.

There are many days left in March, so this is a rather assuming comment to make, but I still feel confident in saying that if there’s just one band you introduce to your speakers this month, it would be shameful not to make that band the New Centuries. They don’t seem to be able to put a foot wrong on many of their songs, offering a little slice of everything from the sounds of 70s keyboards to the stuttering guitar riffs of 2007. Basically, you need to follow the link to their Myspace, perhaps also buying yourself a copy of ‘The New Centuries EP’, available now via the internet. It’s a five-track selection that contains everything I’ve mentioned today and hours of listening time. I’m not bored yet. - The Blanathema

The New Centuries — The New Centuries EP
Recorded and mixed by Matt Strickland at H.I.T. Wall Studios
Mastered by Mike Wells at Hyde Street Studios

Effervescent and haunting, The New Centuries' debut EP is brimming with subtle urgency — an anxiousness that is enveloped by guitarist Jeff Bissell's Johnny Marr-inspired riffs undulating in syncopated time with Ryan Bogart's languid, terse vocals. Bogart's voice seems to have been dragged over an ice-coated gravel bed while at a tender age, combining elements of disaffected cynicism with emotive clarity. Eccentric keyboards and Sabrina Crawford's percussion reign in the conjoined antics, punctuating any tangential dalliances. The New Centuries at once invoke Velvet Underground (as sung by Ian Curtis) and include a palate of influences ranging from The Magnetic Fields to Destroyer.
The EP opens with an upbeat track that would be difficult for even the most ardent argyle advocate to sit through. Describing yet "Another Midnight Show," Bogart illuminates how even the jaded spill drinks during their favorite songs. One of the defining moments on the disc comes in "Stockton Street Tunnels" when Bogart painfully tears out "We should be out there gaining ground / We're respected men about town / America's newest models on the dance floor," while Bissell throws out riffs worthy of Tom Morello playing Lynyrd Skynyrd. The last cut on this five-song EP, "The Middle Years," is a testament to a mix-tape culture struggling for survival.
The New Centuries show that there are still a few bastions of sensible mayhem at large in San Francisco — kids who have gotten past the scattered rush of youth, crooning instead of howling at the moon. Their debut is sure to give even the most disillusioned of scenesters something worthy of a playlist for the centennial nouveau. (Self-released)

-Stephen Gresch - Performer Magazine