Generationals: Artist You Should Know

From KCRW DJ Eric J Lawrence:

Pop music is old enough now that it will be virtually impossible to make any music that doesn’t have some sort of “retro” feel to it. The trick is to make that “retro” vibe feel organic and fresh again without wallowing in pure pastiche. A difficult task, but thankfully many young bands are up for the challenge.

New Orleans-based indie-rockers Generationals fit such a bill, with a more than passing nod to ‘80s-era New Wave legends New Order and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. But whereas these bands prominently featured the then-new synthesizer technologies, Generationals use electronics more subtly, appreciating how they can add color to a rock & roll groove. Nonetheless, the key thing that both current and predecessor bands intuitively create is the catchy hook.

Stream “Trust”

Stream “Carrying the Torch” (Jason Bentley’s favorite)

This was ably demonstrated on Con Law, Generationals’ 2009 album and one of the best debut releases of last year. One year later, they are polishing off the follow-up album, to be called Actor-Casterand scheduled for release on the Park the Van label in March 2011.

But lest the wait be too much to handle, the trio have offered up a new EP called Trust to hold us over. Already it has whetted the appetite of a number of us KCRW DJs, as it seems to have done for our listeners as well, as a couple of y’all have even cited them in your Top 10 of 2010 lists (check out our lists & post your own here). The 4-track EP is available now digitally and as a physical CD on January 4, 2010.

ERIC J. LAWRENCE

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/16209339[/vimeo]