Man of the Year
The Future is Not Now
Tiny Beat/Loveless
Previously known as Lolly, this Portland quartet changed their name, grabbed producer Tony Lash (the Dandy Warhols), and popped out this debut recording. Lash certainly gives a Warhols-esque treatment to the record: fuzzy guitar chords and distinctive keyboard riffs abound alongside great vocal harmonies and an overall Britpop feel. There’s even a move away from straight ahead, catchy songs into quirkier numbers such as “Hovercraft” and “Clubhouse.”
The very first band I thought of when this record kicked off with its rock/pop chord structure with keyboards was That Dog, although that comparison broke down somewhat when the male vocals took over. It is still an accurate comparison musically, mixed in with the likes of the Posies, Sloan, and Weezer. Man of the Year is usually straight ahead and upbeat with their songs and structures, leading into them with rhythmic, distorted guitar chords. That’s not a bad thing – MOTY does the pop song thing very well. Nearly every one of the faster paced songs is a rather catchy tune that leads to some sort of head bobbing, even if it’s unintentional. Standouts in this area include “Parade of Stars,” “Just as Nice,” and “Texas Flyer.”
The Future is Not Now does avoid the problem of having so many similar songs sound indistinguishable from one another by adding in the aforementioned quirkier numbers and even an acoustic ditty. But even the similarly styled songs manage to keep their own identities throughout the record.
MOTY shows some serious promise for becoming known far outside of their Portland area with The Future is Not Now. Although it is not bound to change the future of music, it is a very solid debut that hopefully is an indicator of things to come from this NW band.
