Ava Luna - Services EP (Cooling Pie / Environmental Aesthetics, 2010)

Ava Luna - Cement Lunch


I hope you remember Ava Luna. Their synth punk gospel doo wop is not a sound you could easily forget. And if you did forget, you clearly weren't paying enough attention in the first place. Anyway, after shaking things up a little bit on the blogs and stuff, they're back with another sweetly handmade CD-R, the Services EP.

I have good news on all fronts about this one you guys. Most importantly, their number fetish is still going strong, with a song called "Eight Nine (Won't You Be Mine?)." And they still don't sound like anything else you've heard (unless you got their debut 3rd Avenue Island). They've taken their patented synth soul punk and smoothed it out. The girl harmonies are silkier than ever, the drums are doing more than just keeping time, and the gritty DIY sound has a thin glaze of cleanliness. And they threw in some violins to keep this shit classy.

In my review of their debut, I said they sounded like if "Todd Lewis of Toadies had some old fashioned glee club girls join him in his church of synth punk to sing hymns" and that's still very much the case. Ava Luna are fucking refreshing. And catchy. And goddamnit they're just making some of the coolest and original shit out there right now. GET ON THIS.

Psssst... you can "pay what you want" to download it on Environmental Aesthetics (or buy it from Cooling Pie).

Ava Luna - 3rd Avenue Island (Cooling Pie, 2009)

Ava Luna - Six Seven (I Want To Hide Away)


I listen to as much crazy shit as possible. Most of the time it borders on the music/not-music line. I would say I'm used to weirdness found in music. But I most certainly never, ever thought I would hear anything like Ava Luna. This bunch is totally unlike anything I've ever heard before.

3 guys and 3 gals, some drums, and a synth. That's it. What comes out of 3rd Avenue Island is rhythm heavy synth gospel punk. Recorded in a church, no less.

The synth reminds me a lot of the flash-in-a-pan DFA79, although nothing on 3rd Ave ever gets quite as spastic and amped up as them. The drums are pretty straightforward, nothing too adventurous. They're either there to keep time, add the occasional flair, or go completely fuckin nutty when shit gets crazy. What makes Ava Luna so different, though, are the vocals. There's a male lead and 3 female backups. All of their voices are so smooth and soulful, and their harmonies are something straight out of a '50s doo-wop group. Maybe imagine if Todd Lewis of Toadies had some old fashioned glee club girls join him in his church of synth punk to sing hymns. That's Ava Luna.

The moment you put on 3rd Avenue Island, it's instantly recognizable as some truly unique shit. And I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a "love it or hate it" record. For me, it's obvious. I can't get enough of this. I hesitated for a split second on that first track but I made up my mind pretty quickly. Ava Luna is fuckin boss. And I can only imagine what sort of insanity goes on at their live shows.