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.
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.
I grabbed this one at the Record Exchange in Salem on Record Store Day based almost solely on the album art. I mean look at that. A white kid with a white afro and a black kid with a black afro wearing a shirt that says "Soul On Ice"? There was no way I wasn't buying that. But the more I looked at the record itself, the more I realized I had no idea wtf it was. There's no artist info and no pressing or release info. What I got is an album title (Have It Or Grab It Or Go?), a label (Clowny Clown Productions), and some song titles. That's it. So now I had an album with ridiculously cool art and a shit ton of mystery. Sweet!
From what I gathered on this site, Have It Or Grab It is somewhat like a cross between a split and a mixtape. The A side features a bunch of badass beats from DJ Pete Hothead. And they are fucking slick. Due to my utter lack of knowledge in the genre, the best comparison I can make is Clutchy Hopkins. They're instrumental and repetitive, kinda jazzy, kinda funky, and they got plenty of soul. Perfect music for pretty much anything.
The B side is the mixtape part, with Hothead picking some of his favorite "lost breaks." Luckily, the site I found listed the artists for 4 of the 6 tracks on the flip side, narrowing my labor intensive Google searching to 2 songs. My best guess is that "You Tried To Warn Me" is by Piero Umiliani (which strangely enough is the B side to the "Máh Ná Máh Ná" single) and "Sunday Morning" is most likely The Velvet Underground. Other than that, the only other artist I'm familiar with is the Moog master Gershon Kingsley who does the title track. Then there's Pool Pah (did the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film The Flasher), Ralph Carmichael (whose "Switchblade Theme" is from The Cross And The Switchblade), and The Glimmer Twins, who are actually Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Their song on here is "Aladdin's Story," which may sound familiar because Death In Vegas covered it on The Contino Sessions. I mean, this all sounds about right but I have no real way of knowing. All I know is that these tracks are all fucking killer and I've been listening to them nonstop. They fit perfectly with Hothead's style.
Since I doubt you'll find this available anywhere, I have no problem letting you download the whole thing, which I highly recommend. You won't regret it. Just an fyi, I'm not super picky with the clicks and pops when transferring vinyl so you're just gonna hafta deal. The record is in great shape and sounds fine, with the exception of the second track by Hothead ("Snack Food"). There's a skip in it that I tried to fix a little but it's still noticeable. I don't want any complaints, though, 'cause you're getting this fucking sweet ass gem for free.
I Want To Review Your Music If you make music and you want it reviewed on my blog, just send me an e-mail. I would love to hear what you're making and give you a little more exposure in the process.
Disclaimer All of the music on this site is for promotional and sampling purposes only. If you enjoy it, please consider buying the record or going to see the band live. They will appreciate it, I promise. If you own the rights to a song on this site and you would like it removed, please contact me and I will do so as quickly as my tiny paws allow.
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