Best Coast//When I'm With You

I've been hearing the buzz about Best Coast for a while now, but kept writing them off as the newest indie fuzz it-band. I've said it before and I'll say it again, throwing layers and layers of overdrive on something doesn't actually make it good. On the other hand, if it's already good, well, that's another story.

While we're on the subject of the fuzz, I was contemplating the great fuzz trend of two thousand and ? on the train today. I wonder if all this forced overdrive is some kind of response to the never-ending supply of clean digital sound thanks to advances/mass distribution (thanks, Apple) in recording technology. Anyone can press a button and very easily record something that sounds very crisp and clean. What's the fun in that? Where's the soul? While I don't think that fuzz is an answer to the question, it might be a welcome distraction or a quick fix. What do you think?

Back to the song, Best Coast has written a simple little gem here. Actually the lyrics are downright retarded sometimes--"The world is lazy, but you and me, we're just crazy." After you finish wondering whether Bethany Cosentino is a 7-year-old who just finished a lesson in basic rhyme schemes, take a moment to appreciate when that simplicity turns brilliant (ie. "When I'm with you I have fun"). Listen, there's no better way to say this. It's perfect. There are also requisite lyrical nods to 60s girl group/soul songs ("Ever since I was a little girl, my mama always told me there'd be boys like you"). Can anyone say, "my mama told me you better shop around"? Touches like these are seemingly lifted verbatim and inserted into the modern context of fuzzy, sun-kissed indie pop.

I also wanted to get this song up ASAP because it's one of those songs that sticks so hard in your head, that you wake up singing, that you love so much...but only for a week. And after that week, you want to die every time you hear it because it will never give you the feeling of that first high, the initial obsession. Hearing it reminds you of that, so it becomes annoying. Let's savor it while we can. We can look back on this post and skip over it after if makes it into The Gap's muzak system, which it inevitably will. But right now, it's beautiful and hazy and lovely, just like the beginning of a summer filled with the promise of twin cherry popsicles, empty beaches, polaroid pictures and mixtapes. Oh, and Ronald McDonald.



When I'm With You.mp3

I hate sleeping alone.