Though “blog rock” seems a bit outdated, you could definitely say that Best Coast has had a huge amount of help from the Internet. But though the band has had a lot of help from various blogs, Pitchfork, and frontwoman Bethany Cosentino’s hilarious Twitter page, the hype surrounding Best Coast has come mostly from a series of delightful singles. With the release of their debut, Crazy For You, coming hot off the heels of Cosentino’s collaboration with Kid Cudi and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij, Best Coast has a considerable amount of attention focused on them. Thankfully, they deliver.
The record isn’t long, but it has no need to be, filled with “ooohs” and “ahhhs,” plenty of confidence, and plenty of self doubt. It’s easy to call to attention the Wall of Sound heard on Crazy For You. Though the music lacks the dense layers of Phil Spector’s creation, the melodies, reverberations, and harmonies, not to mention Cosentino’s ability to go for vocal swoon to rock frontwoman, makes Crazy For You sound like a Ronnettes record, if the Ronnettes liked indie rock, smoked a lot of weed, and had a cat named Snacks. The album opener, “Boyfriend,” is almost a modern Spector track, where Cosentino pines for a boy she likes, but admits that his girlfriend is “prettier and skinnier” and went through college while she’s just a dropout that sits around waiting for him. Granted, it’s not exactly the pure vision of love of “Be My Baby,” but the song still sounds like its modern, hipster descendant.
What Cosentino lacks in lyrical dexterity she makes up for with wit. On “Goodbye,” she takes a goofy line like “I wish my cat could talk” and follows it with the internal conflict of, “I don’t love you, I don’t hate you/I don’t know how I feel.” The balance between the light and dark on the record is perfect, with the wit keeping the emotion in check and vice versa. The gorgeous “Our Deal,” heavily leans on the Phil Spector vibe, but instead of just singing about her man leaving, Cosentino sings, “When you leave me, you take away everything/You take all my money, you take all my weed.” There’s an emotional bent to it, but there’s also a frustration at having picked someone who will not only sneak out the morning after, but steal your money and drugs. It’s kind of funny, but also a little bit sad.
But all other things aside, Cosentino, along with multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno, have mastered the art of writing a concise, catchy pop song. The longest song on the record is a mere 3:01, giving due time to each infectious hook they could put together. The title track, in particular, will get stuck in your head after one listen, with its repeated ending of “Maybe I’m just crazy/Crazy for you baby.” They’re not just songs that have a summer novelty to them, but are just as fun in the cold dredges of winter. And after all, isn’t that what great songwriting is all about?
It can be hard to predict the success of a band after a handful of singles and an LP, but Best Coast have potential to be around for a while as Cosentino’s songwriting continues to grow. Though early tracks like “Sun Was High (So Was I)” and “When I’m With You” remain incredibly catchy and fun to listen to, they lack the musical and emotional depth the songs of Crazy For You. Though it’s a debut LP, it still is a step up from everything she’d put out before. The last five years have been riddled with bands that put out promising singles or EPs, gain web notoriety, and then release a record that fails to match the quality of their previous work (see: Voxtrot), so there’s reason to believe that Best Coast might be around a little bit longer. But thought of the future aside, I’m content to sit back, relax, and enjoy Crazy For You in the late summer sun.
Michael’s Score: 81
Jonah’s Score: 82
TUiW Grade: A-
Michael
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