Motel Motel New Denver Review Date: January 4th, 2010
Reviewed By: Rating: Not Yet Rated
"Mexico"

After I first heard a Motel Motel song on myspace, I was convinced they were the new greatest American rock band. When I got the album though, I was disappointed. The vocals are almost grating on the ears at points. I felt like I had to get through it and no one wants to do that while enjoying music. But somehow, thankfully, Motel Motel and New Denver really grew on me. It’s math rock with a real classic country western feeling to it. It’s fucking weird. The vocals aren’t the greatest at times (I think it’s intentional dissonance somewhat?) but they are fitting and work perfectly with focus and conviction. The music instrumentation is the same. There is so much going on between two guitar parts, keyboard, vocals, and drums all demanding your attention. Then all of the sudden, they sync up perfectly. It’s challenging, it’s new, it’s different. It took me awhile but I have been coming back to this album more and more. “Coffee” is my favorite “bar anthem” song of the year and “Mexico” always gets stuck in my head vocally. “Combate” makes me feel like I’m going to get a headache at first, then swings into both classical instrumentation with that same country/wild west feeling with slide guitars mixed together. Don’t even get me started on how weird “Cannons” is. But mostly, Motel Motel are playing for themselves and not trying to regurgitate the same shit over and over that lots of bands and their records fall into. To an extent, that hurts them...but it’s also their greatest strength.