DOWNLOAD THEN SEE: Hooray For Earth

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 7, 2011 6:00PM

Photo by Drew Innis

The easiest way to describe Hooray To Earth would be to point out that their debut, True Loves, sounds like the album everyone wishes MGMT's Congratulations had been. And you know what? We're going to take the slightly lazy route on this one. Why? Because you've already heard this music before practiced by all the different bands that jumped on the electro indie rock bandwagon in recent years. This isn't really a negative criticism of the band, it's a statement of fact; that bandwagon is pretty big and has proven plenty sturdy enough to support an amazingly large number of variations on the formula.

Sometimes it's actually harder to write about music like this. It's solid, it gets the job done, it's catchy, it's well played and well sung, and it feels real, as if written by a band rather than a committee. In some ways its remarkable primarily because of its efficiency and restraint. True Loves is that album we keep turning to when we're not quite sure what we're in the mood for but by the end of the first song we're drawn in and by the end of the second we always discover we're always happily tapping along to the music and want to hear more. How many bands can you say that about nowadays? It's certainly enough to pique our curiosity enough to see if their live show adds more power to the simple equation that works again and again.

MP3: Hooray For Earth "No Love"

Hooray For Earth plays Friday, June 10, at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln, 10 p.m., $16 advance / $18 at the door, 18+