2.21.2009

Manchester Orchestra :: "I"ve Got Friends"

Just got back from the DR, which (thankfully or not) means we can retire the 32ft Down concept. I might bring it back in April or over the summer when I am 90% sure I am moving to Bahrain to pursue petroleum speculation as a full-time career. That is 95% a joke.

I walked in the door and in my mailbox was the new Manchester Orchestra record. I have loved this band since 2007 when, ostensibly to impress a VP at Virgin Records, I pulled some publicity contacts and got tickets to see them play the Knitting Factory on three hours notice. It was maybe the coolest thing I did that year. Although, in retrospect, maybe it was all a little overdone - the night held some real meaning at the time. Me, trying to impress my boss. Me, leveled and rebuilt by a band who, until 2pm that afternoon, were absolutely nothing to me.

Things to take away: 1) My boss was not suitably impressed by my contacts or the (in my opinion, pretty good) review I wrote the next morning while I was supposed to be servicing the new Interpol record to college radio. 2) Manchester Orchestra was the best band in the entire world that night.

The new record is good. Is it great? Let me listen to it eight more times and tell you next week. For right now, love the first single, "I've Got Friends" and understand that it's only the lacquer on the surface of a really deep, important wardrobe. I'll let you know how deep the rabbit hole goes but for now, Andy Hull and Manchester Orchestra are ready to lay you out like a Third World village in a tropical depression. I mean that, indisputably, as a compliment.

Listen :: Manchester Orchestra - "I've Got Friends"

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