Thursday, October 27, 2005

Nourishment Nation


Of course, being on the cutting edge of blogland I hear about all these great new bands before anyone else. In fact, forget before they've released anything, I'm so damn cool I know about bands before they've even been formed! Yeah right, take Rogue Wave I heard them for the first time......About three weeks ago. I bought the soundtrack to the 'Stubbs the Zombie' video game which features the likes of Ben Kweller and Death Cab For Cutie covering 50's/60's classic songs. On there Rogue Wave do a great version of Buddy Holly's 'Everyday' which was enough to get me to seek out there then only album 'Out Of The Shadow' and immediately see why at the time of its release the band were being touted as the next Shins.

The benefit of my ignorance regarding the band was that after buying one album I only had to wait two weeks for a new one to be released. 'Descended Like Vultures' has apparently been drawing some flack because apparently people wanted another copy of the first album, the main difference I see is that the first release was in essence a solo album by Zach Rogue which drew you in with hushed whispers. This time, the band is truly as band with each member bringing their talents to the album and the production is more fully realized. A nod to commercialism or a move away from willful obscurity you can make up your own mind, but the two things that link the albums are the quality of the songs which doesn't let up. Two fine examples of that rare beast complete albums.

I'm not sure if they're still doing it but Sub pop were sending out an extra CD of demos if you bought the album direct from them, which are great to see how the songs progressed. In fact you can do that below.


- Rogue Wave - Publish My Love (demo)

Download - Rogue Wave - Publish My Love

Download - Rogue Wave - 10.1

and from 'Out Of The Shadow'

Download - Rogue Wave - Every Moment

Buy both albums here


The band's website is here

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

so glad to see such a great band get some attention. "nourishment nation" may be their best song, and i see that it made the title of your entry even if it isn't there for download.

Anonymous said...

I love Rogue Wave. I think both of their albums are killer, and I've been listening to DLV incessantly over the last week. It kind of ticks me off when I see some of the more cynical reviewers dismiss them as just ripping off the shins (or death cab). There are some similarities, but if that's all they hear, then their esthetic sense and imagination are just impaired. Anyways, glad to see other people who like them just as much as me. Later.