Skin and Bones

Skeleton
Abe Vigoda
PPM, 2008
4 stars

Skeleton is so tight and taut it sounds as though it could burst apart at any second. This LA four-piece call their sound 'tropical punk', which is about right, though they have a big math influence too. They've played a bunch of gigs at notorious LA hot spot The Smell, a venue brought to fame by fellow Californians No Age, a band whose sound is echoed in Skeleton's chunks of droney, bright noise. With guitars worn so high they might as well be necklaces (ala Battles), these guys tear through a series of punchy, ecstatically happy tracks littered with coconut percussion, grumbly bass and loose vocals. Songs change three or four times before they run their course, often ending as something quite different to what they began. Considering they have twice the manpower of No Age, it's no surprise that they sound like twice the band, though their sound is much more highly-strung, and they spend less time building up dense layers of sound as they do skipping between complex multi-guitar patterns. Highlights include Cranes (I swear there's a Smiths influence in there somewhere) and opener Dead City/Waste Wilderness, a track that yells 'here we are, now listen'. It's a hard invitation to turn down.

Trivia: These guys are named after the actor of the same name, who featured in the Godfather films and random '70s sitcoms. In the '80s he was referred to as 'the late Abe Vigoda' by a magazine, leading many people to believe that he was, in fact, dead. The publicity didn't hurt his career though - the 87-year-old is still acting today, recently making a cameo in The family Guy. Go old fella!

Artwork: TBA