Posted on September 16, 2009 - by Mark Zonda

The Club. Its golden age.

“I know everyone’s trying to sell you the illusion that keeps them in Hell. / I’m stuck in my confusion, but I’m sure that you’ll go far.”

Guess it’s never too late to find the time to listen to good music. In the wide ocean of sounds loose free after Napster broke the dam, I never got the chance to listen to the Californian “American Music Club”. Quite interesting and puzzling name. Why not “Free Okinawa Animal Society” or “The Wise Electric Dispender Group”. I guess AMC is widly recognisible all over the World (beside if you’re living in Glasgow or Ronta), and having the  “Club” word in the end would have brought fan in since the very day the band decided to change their name from “The Cowboys”, leaving only Talebans out of the club (they use to hate music anyway, so not a big deal).

Forget the eclectic sound of “The Restless Stranger”, don’t pay attention to the universally acclaimed “Everclear”. Jump right to the 2.0 era and feel yourself comfortable with “The Golden Age” (Merge Records, 2008).

“All my love”, the opening track of the album, it’s a real frog in the throat. Just when Mark Eitzel‘s voice breaks into the choir sustained by the unreal guitars on the background sustained by soft electric synth sounds à-la-Devics, it’s clear that this singer could be easily nominated as next Genesis frontman with no problems at all. Why Wilco’s “Summerteeth” sucked? Probably Dave Trumfio was too buisy working on AMC album to get involved seriously on their mates. Songs like “The Victory Choir” (Pink Floyd trying to get Beach Boys) and the americana “The Decibels And The Little Pills” deserve to be the permanent soundtrack of your autumn and winter, in case you missed this album or not. That’s right. Why wait Beluah’s next album? Take your surf board on the frozen lake and try hard to fall in love just for the pleasure to put “The Sleeping Beauty” on you’re next mix-tape. Why wait? Don’t esitate! Get a girl and “woke her up tonight”.

Not sure if the sweet melancholic ballad “The Stars” is dedicated to the band, but make you think ’bout the times where Coldplay used to put a little bit of soul on their songs instead of selling their brains to Brian Eno. “Who You Are” is another good example how you can do the same old pop song being honest and not boring making others perceive the honesty of your music and feelings, and I guess that doin’ it in a classy way was the perfect recipe that made bands like Wilco popular.

The long long “The Windows Of The World”, would be the perfect song an artist could perform with his acoustic guitar solo on small venues like London Twelve Bars, still it’s not the strongest song of the album.

Album closes with “I Know That’s Not Really You”, with the band “going’ Beirut”, on their salvation army’s waltz. After having waited more than 10 years we all hope it won’t be their last.

American Music Club – “The Decibels And The Little Pills”

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