I had never heard of The Headlights until yesterday, when I noticed that two of my favorite blogs (Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good and Good Weather for Airstrikes) mentioned them, both going out of their way to gush about them as something special. I downloaded TV and was hooked. Within 20 minutes I had bought the album Kill Them With Kindness and now, less than 24 hours later, I’ve listened all the way through a couple times.
Aren’t moments like that great? When you hear something you like and can immediately click a few buttons and get the whole thing – it makes me think that human civilization just may be headed in the right direction after all.
Anyways, the band they remind me most of is Stars, both because they trade off between male and female vocals to great effect and because the album is a glorious mixture of shoegaze, new wave, and shimmery pop. It’s also one of those great records that can sound like a cohesive whole without each song sounding too similar. Seriously, how is everyone not raving about this band?
As I said above, TV is a clear standout, with an insanely catchy melody and angelic vocals that rival the best of Amy Millan, all packed into two minutes and forty seconds of pop perfection. Still there’s not a bad song, and a number of other great ones. You can get a couple at Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good, and here’s two more:
Words Make You TiredPity City
It’ll take me a little while to really soak this one in, but first impressions give it a pretty good shot of ranking among my favorites of 2006.
Kill Them With Kindness comes out in stores next week, but you can buy it on eMusic right now. And, you can head over to their myspace page to listen to a few more songs and check out tour dates. I’m planning on going to the October 30 show in Boston, but they’re on tour for approximately 17 straight months so it’s almost certain they’ll be coming somewhere near you.