A handful of New York indie bands manage to escape overblogged hype
and are always better for it—think Ra Ra Riot, Regina Spektor—and
so you don’t feel like a trend-fucker when listening to the likes of
Bishop Allen, AKA Justin Rice and Christian Rudder. The follow-up to
2007’s fantastic The Broken String, Grrr… displays more
of the same jaunty, witty pop. It’s ironic that Rice, a star of the
mumblecore film movement (Mutual Appreciation), expresses
himself so specifically musically, as on “True and False” when he
implores, “Take a seat, take some tea/Stay with me tonight.” Reblog
this shit, why don’t you?
This article appears in May 7-13, 2009.