Celebration - The Modern Tribe

  by Andrew Carver

published: 22 / 11 / 2007

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A Baltimore band with a distinguished musical history and strong ties to a number of popular acts on the indie music scene, Celebration draws on a wealth of past influences, highly talented members and a bevy of well-connected friends to create a fascinating smorgasbord of sophisticated and adventurous pop. The husband-and-wife team of Sean Antanaitis and Katherine Ford has an interesting history. The duo began in oddball blood-spurting noise-punks Jaks and went on to form Bauhaus aficionados Love Life, where they picked up drummer Dave Bergander en route to becoming Celebration. Ford’s voice is the band’s most versatile tool, easily conjuring memories of Siouxsie Sioux’s ‘Rapture’-era singing over a sultry bed of Antanaitis glittering organ and Bergander’s skittering drums on opener ‘Evergreen’. On ‘Pony’ she shuttles easily between a breathy gasp and a throaty croon. Ford has also sung on several TV On The Radio songs; TV on the Radio producer David Sitek manned the helm for Celebration’s debut and returns for ‘Tribe’. All of the band’s members guest at one point or another. Her bandmates have similarly vital roles to play: Antanaitis gives the backing music a cabaret flavour with a parade of organs (though he does break out the guitar on ‘Pony’ and a few other tunes), while Bergander twitching and prancing percussion moves the songs onto the dance floor. A host of guest musicians garnish the whole with helpings of brass (Stuart Bogie’s tenor sax is a particular standout). The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Nick Zinner also chips in guitar on a pair of tracks. ‘The Modern Tribe’ is a must-have for TV On The Radio fans. Admirers of the Pleasure Forever/Slaves/VSS axis, the Banshees and other late-night new wavers should also find it up their alley.

Track Listing:-

1 Evergreen
2 Pressure
3 Heartbreak
4 Pony
5 Fly the Fly
6 Tame the Savage
7 Hands Off My Gold
8 In This Land
9 Comets
10 Wildcats
11 Our Hearts Don't Change

Label Links:-

http://www.4ad.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fourad/
https://twitter.com/4AD_Official
https://plus.google.com/explore/4AD

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