Giant Drag

Sometimes the old ways of discovering music are the best. Alex, one of my relatively young friends, handed me a CD by a band I'd never heard of the other day which she'd bought in a shop. "I think you might like this" she said, and I did, a lot. "Where did you hear of this rather good band?" I asked, always intrigued as to how these things come about. Turned out she'd read a review in a magazine printed on paper. How terribly old skool.

Beyond that quite stunningly sexy album cover Giant Drag, of Los Angeles, USA, touch base with numerous items of musical goodness for me. The rumbling, undulating roar of guitars evokes shoegazer circa My Bloody Valentine and Ride with a touch of post-rock chugging while the vocals spark off connections with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Veruca Salt and countless others. Yet despite all this they seem to be carving their own chunk of uniqueness. The album, Hearts and Unicorns, has been on repeat for a few days resulting in a sustained, if not increasing, appreciation. They be good. (If you're checking their MySpace page I recommend the track "Kevin is Gay".)

Anyway, there's a UK tour in progress at the moment with a Birmingham gig on April 18th which I intend to attend and expect to be most enjoyable.