Band of the Week: Throw Me The Statue

[September 29 - October 5]

Throw Me The Statue
Sounds Like: Indie-Pop
Drinking Buddies: Oh No! Oh My!, Via Audio, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Synopsis: Rewriting the definitions of pop on a daily basis.

Makes You Want To...: Rock out; Dance; Sing
[Myspace]

One week, one band. You know the drill.
This week, the featured artist is Throw Me The Statue.

Pop music. Such a quirky, tricky, fickle genre of our modern music. And it's everywhere - it wouldn't be "pop" music if it wasn't everywhere. Now, Wikipedia tells me that pop music is, "Pop songs are generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style, and traditional structure... and focuses on melodies, catchy hooks, and the appeal of the verse-chorus-verse arrangement..."

But we all know it's more than that. Admit it, we all have a favourite pop ditty. A friendly Canadian named Evan Cranley, of the Montréal indie-pop group Stars, says it best in an interview for Making Heart (the DVD that came with their last album, In Our Bedroom After The War). "I've always been addicted to the pop song, but never explored it... It's just such a direct route into someone's life. It act as a window into someone's life."

Whether we like it or not, pop music means more than just "popular music." It stands alone as a genre, on all fours, ready for the indulgence of millions. Sure, Brandi Carlile, Good Charlotte, Kate Nash, Avril Lavigne, and many others have traipsed through our radio waves. But the genre is larger and more all-encompassing; there is a wave of new pop music that is filtering in from all angles to liven up a tired genre. The Apples in Stereo, Stars, Los Campesinos!, Peachcake... they all contain pop formula, and all represent it so wholeheartedly, it's hard to doubt their inclusion in the genre.

Today, my reader, we travel back to the rainy streets of Seattle for a new band which hopped straight into the deep end of the swimming pool of pop, and is effortlessly swimming circles around their peers. Their name is Throw Me The Statue, and this band has been talked to high heaven. If you follow independent music at all, the likelihood is, you're nearly sick of Throw Me The Statue by now; since the release of their debut LP, Moonbeams (on Secretly Canadian), these guys have been tossed around every blog on the planet like they were pushed into a violent game of wall ball. Dallas Does Indie, You Ain't No Picasso, Daytrotter, Stereogum, La Blogotheque - dare I mention Pitchfork? - you may run, but there's no hiding from the latest news from the quirky quartet from Washington state.

Now, Voilà! isn't necessarily one to jump on bandwagons (we firmly believe in Omnibuses, apparently). There are tons of bands to cover for band of the week, and if any particular band is getting enough credit, I tend to shy away. But damn, I can hold out no longer! These boys are just too good. Their songs are more well rounded, inventive, experimental, and just so dang catchy, than hardly anything I've ever heard. How to pick a single from Moonbeams? Good questions, but it's definitely somewhere between "Your Girlfriend's Car," "Yucatan Gold," and "This Is How We Kiss." Yes, indeed, they were that band who had that one song ("Lolita") in the Rhapsody Commercial.

Why am I blabbering, you may ask? Essentially, I could offer all the comparisons in the world: They're something like Oh No! Oh My! meets Via Audio, with a dash of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin; I could mention how they take the best of Math and Physics Club, toss it in a blender with Brown Recluse Sings, and are every bit as fun as Vampire Weekend. Yeah, I could do that. But the fact remains that no matter how many times these guys get dissected, no matter how many paragraphs I spill affection out for these folks, you've just got to hear Throw Me The Statue. Words can not explain the intrigue that they offer.

And hearing isn't so tough these days. Throw Me The Statue released their debut, Moonbeams, sometime around my birthday in February (don't let the panty-clad ladies on the cover scare you away). Throw Me The Statue's presently wandering the country on a national tour. Afterwards, please pack your baggage in the overhead compartments, because they're crossing the Atlantic for a Eurotour (maybe we'll soon see them soon on Black Cab Sessions). As mentioned, they've been on Daytrotter, and performed for La Blogotheque (pour tout le francophones dehors là.) on a ferry crossing the Puget Sound. As if that weren't enough, Throw Me The Statue also recently released their latest song, "Ship," on their Myspace, which is right over here.

You can watch my Last.FM's tally of Throw Me The Statue steadily rise as I listen to "My Valuable Hunting Knife" on repeat. In the mean time, my dear reader, keep your ears tuned to the speakers. And of course, have a nice week.

Throw Me the Statue - My valuable huntikng knife
by lablogotheque