I've been sitting on the mp3s from The Mendoza Line for a few months. I listen to them a lot but for some reason I keep dismissing the band and have never suggested them to friends. I could never figure out why I had an aversion to pimping them despite enjoying their tunes.
Then it hit me. I hate their name. It's so friggin' obvious while attempting to be clever. It seemed rather amateur.
But once I figured that out, I'm completely over it. It's a stupid reason to dismiss a band as good as theirs.
The Mendoza Line were originally out of Athens, GA but have since relocated to Brooklyn (because that's where the US keeps all of its bands it seems). Despite the picture above, there are six members and they flash a variety of looks at you. Rather than calling themselves The Mendoza Line, they should have gone with Campaneris (as in legendary utility infielder Bert Campaneris) to reflect their ability to pull off so many different sounds.
While they don't sound like Sebadoh, the fact that they have three different songwriters in the band and each has a distict sound reminds me of the 90's indie superstars. The three files below are all from their 2004 album, Fortune, and show a few of their various sounds. The first song is a hooky pop number with Shannon singing. "Let's Not Talk About It" is an atmospheric classic indie number in the vein of Yo La Tengo and "Metro Pictures" is straight-up alt-country.
The Mendoza Line - It's a Long Line
The Mendoza Line - Let's Not Talk About It
The Mendoza Line - Metro Pictures
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
The Mendoza Line
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3 comments:
The Campaneris! Now that's a great name. There should be more baseball references in indie rock.
I must take issue with your double standard re the overly clever but obvious name of The Mendoza Line.
The average non-baseball-fan doesn't know what the Mendoza Line is - so it's really only "obvious" to a small subset of people..in the same way that the term "False 45th" might be obvious and overly clever to New England history buffs...
I'm watching you Murphy!!!!
Campaneris would be a great name for a band. Or his nickname, Campy. However, Bert Campaneris was not a utility player. He was a six time all-star with over 2,200 hits. When he retired he was in the top 10 in stolens bases.
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