Sniffing the winds of bloggy change, it seems like with the turning of the seasons is coming a backlash to the wave of feel-good, dreamy beach-rock that dominated this summer. This is silly for several reasons:
1) Backlash is hilarious when many of these bands have yet to release a full-length album. Give them time to develop, dammit! Wait for the wine, not just smushed grapes.
2) It may seem impossible to believe if you spend a lot of time on the computer, but large swaths of music fans still have yet to even know or care about Best Coast, the Dum Dum Girls, Beach Fossils, et al.
3) We're sure none of these bands really want to be lumped in together.
4) Also, it's still really hot here and it's totally appropriate to keep cranking the feel-good sand soundtracks until about October.
5) Finally, you should just like what you like on its own merits, and not let Pitchfork or Stereogum or Crossfade or anybody else tell you it's not cool two months later.
With that, here's a new MP3 from the Drums, a foursome that often gets included in the current musical umbrella in question.
The band's originally from Brooklyn, but boasts a tenuous Florida connection in that the guys, for whatever reason, relocated to Orlando for a short period in there somewhere. Yes, they've written songs called "Let's Go Surfing," and posed for EP covers on a beach. But where a lot of their current peers favor a rougher, janglier sound, the latest Drums songs have a more polished, almost doo-wop-like sentimental quality to them. Check out the new ballad, "Down by the Water," for proof.
The band plays Grand Central on Saturday, September 18 with pals Surfer Blood. The early (7 p.m.) show is all-ages, and tickets are $10 in advance from wantickets.com.
Download: The Drums - "Down by the Water"
