Dye it Blonde – Smith Westerns
By Adam Murray
2010 has come and gone, and there are a whole slew of new albums on the horizon of 2011. So I wanted to cut my teeth on an album from a band that I have become quite fond of, Smith Westerns.
The Chicago based band caught my attention back in early 2010, while I was scanning through the seemingly endless albums of lo-fi artists like Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and Times New Viking, a band with such a lo-fi sound that it starts to scrape metaphorical bedrock. One of the bands that stuck out was Smith Westerns. They were a band that blended the feel of hazy garage punk with the sound of early 70s glam bands like T. Rex, The Amboy Dukes, and Ziggy era David Bowie.
The band has just recently put out their second full-length Dye it Blonde. And unlike my cousin Trent with the rattail and Trans-Am, the band has stepped out of the garage. ‘Blonde’ is a small evolution for the band, almost shifting out of the lo-fi genre all together and embracing their glam rock influences even more. Tracks like ‘End of the Night’ and ‘Dye the World’ are subtly different when compared to songs like ‘The Glam Goddess’ and ‘Diamond Boys’. Overall what you’re getting from the guys is an upgrade of already good music, just with a cleaner sound. Possibly because their first album was recorded in 18 year old Max Kakacek’s basement. For a young band, which embraces early innovators they’re already showing signs of becoming a stronger musical presence in the near future.
Adam’s Key Tracks: “Dye the World“, “Fallen in Love“, “Imagine Pt. 3“.
Smith Westerns will be at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on March 5th.
