Saturday, March 19, 2011

Rockets and Blue Lights - A Smashed City With Flames and Music in the Air

Don't know too much about this band to be perfectly honest. From what I can gather Rockets and Blue Lights were a band from Albany, NY and released a couple of albums, including this 10" on Redder Records (Kind of Like Spitting, The City on Film, etc). I'm not even sure if they're still active.

I downloaded this record a long time ago, and I have to admit that it didn't particularly stand out on first listen. Over the last few weeks it has shown up a number of times on shuffle, so I decided to give it a better listen and I have to say it's definitely hooked me. I sort of kick myself for not jamming this more when I first downloaded it. Slow building emo jams with a bit of post rock slant to them. Fans of Boys Life, Mineral, and Christie Front Drive will definitely appreciate this record. Andee is a stand out jam for me with it's Promise Ring-esque vocal delivery and mathy indie rock grooves. Some of We Bleed This in the Winter even reminds me a bit of old Cursive. Listening to this record makes me feel like a teenager discovering this kind of music again.

All in all a pretty great record, and one that fans of the genre will likely embrace. I'm not saying it will sway the most stubborn of whiney-emo naysayers (looking your way KS) but it's an enjoyable listen nonetheless and one I'm happy to hopefully have in my physical collection soon. I'm not sure how active the label is still but you can order it here.
~AB

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