RED PENS
RED PENS
Seeing the Minneapolis duo Red Pens is like witnessing a demonstration. A demonstration in raw sonic bliss. Howard Hamilton III is a string bending master and knows how to make feedback work to his advantage. His confident vocal stylings coupled with drummer Laura Bennett's all or nothing kit pounding are about as uniquely refreshing as it gets these days. The stage is littered with junk shop amps and guitars Hamilton seems to almost get tangled up in while he and Bennett exchange doses of laser beam eye contact showing off a seemingly deeper connection between the two of them than your average indie rock outfit.
MYSPACE :: FACEBOOK :: PICKED TO CLICK 2009
Hamilton and Bennett met in the arena of visual arts and started Red Pens as a way to express their deep love for rock and roll. Howard's old project The Busy Signals went on tours with The Shins and it's beat and loop based jams proved to be an underdog favorite in the early two thousands. Laura is well known as a painter and is best known for her painting on guitar effects boxes. She even has her own signature fuzz pedal, not bad for a drummer. Their debut album Reasons on Grain Belt Records is a mid-fi bonanza of fuzzy reverb drenched art rock. The wiggly winding guitars, slap back vocals and killer back beats are sure to give you that silly grin you've been starving for.
GOSPEL GOSSIP
"Gospel Gossip is the only band that falls under the category of "shoegaze" that drives me to dance. I'm not talking about swaying my shoulders while my feet are in place like a good indie kid. I'm talking about the kind of dancing that you hope either breaks something or gets you laid. Their post punk influences surface most evidently in the throbbing bass lines and danceable drums that make you move like Ian Curtis. If you take acid or eat some of those red caps with white spots it is going to take maybe 20 minutes or so for the psychedelic experience to really kick into gear.
