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***No one sounds like these Golden Boys, but rolling their sophomore album over some wine with colleague Enid Benedek of the non-music blog SiltVegan, she offers "Damn, this comes off kinda like Chilton listening to Buck Owens before he did Like Flies on Sherbert." OK, a good start, but I kindly inform her this is three songwriters performing all originals. She nods, then 10 minutes later frantically pants: "This baby's warm, sounds like these are first-takes made by desperate boys having fun!" She bobs her head and winces here and there: "A bit muddled but It's too knockout to call it rowdy or raw or that 'g' word, cuz these arrangements are spot-on -- hey, do you have a photo?" "THAT'S them? Wow, a band from Austin with nothing cute about them. Haha, they're doomed." "What do you want Enid?" I spew, "These guys are drowning out the misery of crappy jobs, war, tv on the radio, and stone-faced hipsters with two things that seem to provide them relief -- shots and some great fucking songs. Didn't you hear those words 'I know this world ain't as bad as it seems' and that line about drinking cuz your mom just had surgery? And just when you think they're gonna make you smile and dance all night, a song like 'I Remember Georgia' makes you wonder 'Damn, why's that dude all sad now?' Isn't that deep, Enid?" "If you'd calm down, I was going to say 'Oooh Girl' kills me," says Enid, "It's some lost weekend shit with Lennon doing a quick take with his L.A. friends after a few gallons of tequila. Sorry for the name-dropping, I'm drunk. Play the whole thing again, shut your mouth, and pour me another, bitch!" "A very cracked and shakey take on raunch-hootenany-ism recalling Memphis' more lop-sided degenerates. There are parts of this disc that cohere into something identifiably musical, but not enough to bother us." Thurston&Byron,Bull Tongue / Arthur Magazine "Austin's Golden Boys proving once again that...Party rip-off bands beat Nick Cave 's silly solo shtick any day." ---Chuck Eddy, Village Voice 30-second MP3 excerpts: Yankee Dollar Bongo's Bongo's Bongo's Remember Georgia Never Wanna See You Again Oooh Girl La La Birdie Babushka Pretty Good Looking To Me Billy Wore A Dress Dolly's Waltz Yeah I Wanna Know Lime Disease If I Can't Hold You In My Arms |