The Horrors! Oh, The Horrors!

My arrival to the CMJ Music Marathon was one without any bit of an itinerary. Getting lost in Queens (or rather, missing the Triborough exit and having to take the longer route back in to the bridge), I finally made my way downtown to begin my hunt. My friend was dead set on wanting to see The Horrors, and in my many checks on SPIN.com and the Village Voice, I'd been hearing more and more about the band.



Essentially, I was skeptical. Skinny boys with tight jeans and weird haircuts. Admittedly, the goth edge to their style put them in neutral territory for me, being that anything dark and/or brooding often stirs my pierced little heart. I went to their show, like Maritime's, without having heard any of their music, but I had nothing to work with as far as preconceiving their sound.

It was after 1am. I didn't have an ounce of alcohol in my body, and I just wanted to enjoy something. We'd arrived to the middle of The Photo Atlas' set, which I quickly started to love. Harboring that Saddle Creek noise, the singer sounded much like Oberst with his goatey vocal shakes, which were complimented by the lengthy dance-prog tangents that the band took hold of.

But the Horrors, ohhh the Horrors. If Nick Cave ruled the world and had five sons who all despised him for his forceful nature in raising them on musical training with the intentions of creating a Birthday Party/Bad Seeds-esque powerband, then the Horros are those very sons who, somewhere around 18 said "Hey FUCK YOU Dad! You don't know anything."


Tidbits: directed by Chris Cunningham / starring Samantha Morton. Holler.

So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when after voicing that opinion I came across two points in their press release: (a) instead of any deviation of the adjective rebellious, they were, in fact, described as "anti-parent," and (b) ready for this? Produced by Jim Sclavunos...who's history also extensively includes Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. As Borat would say, "high five!"

They were disgusting. They were absolutely insane in their screaming and yelling and occasional yelping. Their stances and expressions wavered from possessed by their own sound to trying too hard. They ranged from a surf rock sound on seas of blood red to a dance punk explosion that would happen if you mixed equal parts Faint and Woggles. They were impressive, but moreso in the way in that they grow on you like an addiction.

It was four days ago, and there's a feeling of withdrawal in my very bones.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thehorrors
Label: http://www.loogrecords.co.uk