It’s kind of a trip to hear a modern indie rock band have the appeal that is a cross between Weezer and Neil Young buit that is what I hear in the three-piece Victorian Slang, whose By The Light of The Moon (Emotional Response) is the kind of album that would sound great in a car as it would in a dingy basement with no air conditioning. “High Five The Moon” sounds like a country song in the wrong part of town while “Churches” is the right song to turn your melancholy into a happy day or week.
It’s not a majorly serious album but that’s not to say this is nothing more than a hoot and a guffaw. By The Light of The Moon has enough of a good thing going for it that they come off as a band who don’t take themselves too seriously, or at least they know how to have fun, especially by covering Clarence “Frogman” Henry’s “Ain’t Got No Home”, which Rod Stewart borrowed/ripped off for “Some Guys Have All The Luck” in the 80’s. Victorian Slang take it back from him and show things can still be good, if not great. Need a bit of an Uncle Tupelo revival, they pull it off with excellent by doing “I Got Drunk”. The album is quite nice and while calling something “nice” may come off as being tame, I mean that in the nicest way, no sarcasm. I’d want to see these guys live.
The last time I heard from Jim Of Seattle, I compared them to the likes of Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren, and Prince for their diversity and eclectic side. Eclecticness is still present on Both The Planet Frank And The Chet Lambert Show (Green Monkey) but now they’re getting in contact with Devo and Frank Zappa, the former quite present when they do a cover of “Whip It” but they also get into Jimmy Webb’s realm with a nice rendition of “Wichita Lineman”.
Is this alternative, indie pop, or indie rock? In truth, Not Yourself Today (Green Monkey” by The Navins is all of the above and then some. It’s an incredibly tight album with great musicianship and songs that are worth paying attention to so you can remember the verses and chorus as a means to recommend it to everyone. A lot of their songs reminds me of the same power Evan Dando had with The Lemonheads, due to the strength of Cain Morehead and forget regionality: the music here not only represents Seattle but wholesome American alterna-rock, all without fitting in a lot of worn-out cliches. One of the bvest tracks, “What You Do”, is the most gentle of the bunch and could easily be getting a lot of airplay if airplay still mattered these days. Make it matter.
This Is Book's Music 