Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Review: PIXIES EP 1 - The Musical Fix That Came Just In Time.

PIXIES EP 1 - This Musical Fix Came Just In Time.

After the twerking musical dystopia that is the VMAs (and all it's dissection), the 4 song EP released by the Pixies yesterday simply entitled EP 1 is the sonic fix that came just in time. Since their first reunion tour in 2004 I have been hoping that new songs, even an album would emerge. Yes that tour did spawn the crazy Bam Thwok that almost sounds like a public underground television cable show theme song but over the subsequent tours, the Pixies have felt like a band content to pull out those iconic great songs. Sure that is fucking amazing but dare I say, it is also like shooting fish in a barrel. When after a 9 year new song hiatus, Bagboy came to light this past June I just about fell off my chair and cried at the same time. The man behind the curtain obviously had the desire to put out new material. I don't care why the new song sprung forth and I realize the reasons may be both deep and shallow. I just care that the need is there. Yes, don't kid yourself, even a twisted poetic / musical genius like Charles Thompson needs to feel the passion, the fire to create anything that is decent and good. Bagboy was much more than just good. It felt so incredibly potent, it felt so incredibly Black Francis and so incredibly like the Pixies.

When I unwrapped EP 1 I seriously felt like it was Christmas and I was like 7 years old. Four songs that will raise your chin as you listen intently. Produced by Gil Norton of Doolittle fame (and more) I thought of how a wry smile might of graced Mr. Norton's face as he helped to realize Pixies songs that time out from 3:27 to 4:44 each. The first track Andro Queen shocked the hell out of me because of how "un Pixies like" it sounds. Almost majestic in tone like a slightly tortured space fable. It feels like the Pixies doing a grade school play with cardboard spaceships and androids. Charles' vocals even have a dash of vocodorish effects at the very beginning. It is sadly hopeful and romantic. Yes, the Pixies are not playing it safe (is the foreign language being spoken Pixie jibberish?). Another Toe In the Ocean is metered and polished in both song structure and production touches. Probably one of the most mainstream sounding song the Pixies have ever put out. As a rule I dislike song fade outs and by Pixies high song writing standards Another Toe In the Ocean is rather formulaic fair but I cannot deny the melody that hooks you almost instantly and the Pixies doing kind of formulaic mainstream rock is in and of itself a total departure and thus for them un-formulaic. I swear I just made sense, I did.

My mind stirs in a trance like state of bliss when I listen to Indie Cindy. This tempo shifting indie rock opera transforms from folk rock to a spaghetti punk western to a lush rock ballad where you want to sway and hold cigarette lighters in the air. The musical break is dangerously bad ass but what makes this an instant classic is the tear jerker lyrics and production on the chorus that feels so wonderfully wanderlusty as Charles sings, "I am in love with your daughter and though she has no need, I'm the one who's got some trotters, you've many mouths to feed." From start to finish this song works. The last track What Goes Boom is back to the crazy jibber jabber loveliness that is the Pixies. With incendiary rhythms that almost gallop as Charles attacks the vocals, it feels as rockish as Queens of the Stonage in spots. The lead guitar lines are thick and piercing. You drown in the lovely rock sound and then rise to the surface as the song lets you come up for air into what might be described as a sub chorus or secondary chorus. It is vibrant and pretty "Grace in her lace and her stocking...  carryin' her bass she really likes to get rocking" a melody that is beautifully lifted into heaven by Joey Santiago's inspired lead lines and David Lovering's drumming that charges forth and lays back in the right spots. I absolutely adore this song and expect to have a long lasting love affair with it.

All and all EP 1 has slapped me squarely across the face and fired up the malnourished synapses in my brain.  It is the exact musical fix I needed- heavy, quiet, dreamy, riotous, surprising and expected. And it came just in time.
Robb Donker

 YOU can get the 4 track EP -limited edition 10- inch exclusive vinyl (only 5000 copies Worldwide)
plus limited edition "Indie Cindy" T-Shirt and Instant Lossless audio download



  1. Great review about 4 beautiful songs. Hope we'll hear & read more soon !

    By the way, did you listen to "Blue Eyed Hexe" played live ? It's on YouTube. Enjoy !

    1. I did catch a number of video's from the Echo and El Rey show but not that one- gonna do it on your prompt. Thanks- Hopefully I will be attending the gig at the Mayan (not sure yet but crossing my fingers). Also, there are rumors floating about that there may be 4 or more last minute LA gigs in the works! Thanks for checking out American Pancake!