Was it worth the wait? Was this debut from this super group going to be as much of a goof as their Stones-aping video for "Rio's Song" suggested? The Hard Quartet answers those lingering questions of the last few months this week. The debut from this all-star four-piece is absolutely what listeners wanted given the players involved and our expectations.
Emmett Kelly (The Cairo Gang, Ty Segall), Stephen Malkmus (Pavement), Matt Sweeney (Chavez), and Jim White (The Dirty Three, Xylouris White) pooled their skills recently and the result is this thoroughly listenable record. You want classic era Pavement vibes? Check! You've got it right here on "Hey", one's of Malkmus' most pleasant shaggy dogs of a hook in ages. You want a skewed reworking of Beatles hooks in the manner of The Cairo Gang? Check! "Our Hometown Boy" will do the trick for ya. You want noisy college rock? Take "Chrome Mess" out for a spin. How about something lyrical and folk-flavored? Swoon to "Killed by Death", an imagining of Bert Jansch styles in an alt rock setting.
As an album, The Hard Quartet feels all over the place on first listen. On second, third, and 10th listen, it reveals pleasures that suggest debts owed to the bands these fellows came from, and an awareness of how to deliver similar Nineties-style joys in a more economical fashion. For the moments here that sort of give off an air of being of the moment, this really is a remarkably concise release. And it's one where the less obvious stuff, like the modest "Jacked Existence", stands just as tall as the ones with riffs that take you back mentally to the peak years of college rock.
Absolutely freakin' essential, folks.
The Hard Quartet by The Hard Quartet is out this week via Matador.
[Photo: Matador Records]