#4 The Checks: Deadly Summer Sway
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: I've been reviewing my picks for the Top 20 Albums of 2011 in an ongoing series. You can read the other entries here.
In 2010 I started a new job, and a guy in a high-up position there was wearing a t-shirt that featured The Checks. I'd always been fond of the group, but never bothered to check (pun intended) out their albums. In New Zealand, if you don't live in Auckland, it's easy to write off "Auckland bands". From a Wellingtonian's perspective, and speaking in generalisations, the bands that make it big in our biggest city often sound like they tried to make it big in a bigger city (usually London) and then came back to our smaller pond for another go at the spotlight. So, sometimes, my prejudice - however unfair - means I miss out on good music when it's at its hottest. To cut a long history lesson short: I found out in 2010 that I'd missed 8 years of fantastic music by one of New Zealand's best bands. In 2011, they released Deadly Summer Sway and I was determined to not miss out on the fun this time around. If your browser is cool, you can stream the album below:
Deadly Summer Sway has the sound of a band that has been around for a decade. No-one's trying to outshine anyone else in the group; they're a cohesive whole, apparently focused on serving each song in whatever way they can. Check out the bass riff and backing harmonies in the single Ready To Die below. It has a funky groove at its core, despite the necessary mod-cons of being a "rock" track by a "rock" band, and the group never loses sight of how incessantly danceable the song has to be:
This album is thus the maturation of the alleged 'North Shore Sound'. The Checks have now bettered the very groups that influenced them, despite the fact that those groups were so obviously indebted to another generation prior. As UnderTheRadar put it, "The Checks' third album Deadly Summer Sway has the classic rock appeal that The Strokes and The Killers try for, with more artful experimentation, and without the 70’s cocaine-addled affectation and pretentiousness." Bang on.
The thing that I like about the album is that each track is at once independent of the others around it, but also complimentary of them too. Too often in 2011, "rock bands" tried to prove their credentials with LOTS OF GUITARS, ALL THE TIME, reeling and squealing from one monotonous song to another. Many released records (I'm looking at you Foo Fighters) and relentlessly bashed on the Pro Tools / Logic computer-based generation, as if recording on analogue equipment magically made your songs better. The Checks didn't need to fall back on any of those 'look at me!' crutches. They created a good album, that works from start to finish. The Herald gave it 5 stars out of 5. You should check it out. If you can't stream it from the above collection of tracks, try their BandCamp page. It is a solid album that you'd do well to have in your iTunes library, pile of CDs, or bookmarked in your web browser.
Thanks for reading folks, check in tomorrow for a review of the third best album of the year. Click this link here to catch up on any reviews you might have missed.
Deadly Summer Sway has the sound of a band that has been around for a decade. No-one's trying to outshine anyone else in the group; they're a cohesive whole, apparently focused on serving each song in whatever way they can. Check out the bass riff and backing harmonies in the single Ready To Die below. It has a funky groove at its core, despite the necessary mod-cons of being a "rock" track by a "rock" band, and the group never loses sight of how incessantly danceable the song has to be:
This album is thus the maturation of the alleged 'North Shore Sound'. The Checks have now bettered the very groups that influenced them, despite the fact that those groups were so obviously indebted to another generation prior. As UnderTheRadar put it, "The Checks' third album Deadly Summer Sway has the classic rock appeal that The Strokes and The Killers try for, with more artful experimentation, and without the 70’s cocaine-addled affectation and pretentiousness." Bang on.
The thing that I like about the album is that each track is at once independent of the others around it, but also complimentary of them too. Too often in 2011, "rock bands" tried to prove their credentials with LOTS OF GUITARS, ALL THE TIME, reeling and squealing from one monotonous song to another. Many released records (I'm looking at you Foo Fighters) and relentlessly bashed on the Pro Tools / Logic computer-based generation, as if recording on analogue equipment magically made your songs better. The Checks didn't need to fall back on any of those 'look at me!' crutches. They created a good album, that works from start to finish. The Herald gave it 5 stars out of 5. You should check it out. If you can't stream it from the above collection of tracks, try their BandCamp page. It is a solid album that you'd do well to have in your iTunes library, pile of CDs, or bookmarked in your web browser.
Thanks for reading folks, check in tomorrow for a review of the third best album of the year. Click this link here to catch up on any reviews you might have missed.
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