THE VELVET TEEN

Nave (traditionally pronounced “Na-vay”) loves The Velvet Teen. He reps them so hard that not everyone gets it, or so I tell him. The Teen’s new album—full-of and about sexual innuendo—is called Cum Laude and it’s Nave’s favorite album of the year. It’s one of my favorites, too. But Nave declared that it would be his favorite album after hearing the three-song GyzmKid promo offering. The whole proclamation was done in a stately manner, as though he were a courtier unfurling scrolled parchment in the presence of the king: “I hereby declare that Cum Laude shall be my favorite album in the entirety of the sixth year of the second millennium.” Or something like that—it was loud and we were at The Teen’s first ever performance in Reno, NV. That was in March. Cum Laude came out a few months later, which is when Nave started confusing people. It’s not really a big deal because he’s right: the record is amazing. But when Nave finds new ears he undeniably showcases the two most complicated songs on the album. The Teen is a complicated band, but they’ve never sounded like this.

Here’s a history lesson: The Velvet Teen is from Santa Rosa, CA, about an hour north of San Francisco. The band started out writing teenage pop-rock gems. If you first heard the song “Naked Girl” or “Counting Backwards,” you would have melted before the bands white-hot teenage heat. They stormed the national scene with Out Of The Fierce Parade, a record produced by Chris Walla, whose band Death Cab For Cutie, took The Teen across the nation. If you first heard Judah Nagler’s awesome falsetto on “Caspian Can Wait”—Nave’s favorite song ever, I think—you would have been floored by the touching lyrics and unusual organ sounds. These were songs that MTV noticed, but also songs that Indie Rock’s honor roll (Cursive, Death Cab, Minus The Bear) earmarked and respected. On Fierce Parade you can still hear a level of honesty that still doesn’t really apply to most commercial genres.

The Teen is three dudes who make the sounds they imagine, and inside that careful transaction they leave no room for compromise. When it came time to record a follow-up to Fierce Parade, the band chose reinvention because it must have been the only noise they’d come up with. That album was the self-recorded Elysium, an album of ballads, which is also like a single ballad, in a way. I can’t imagine anything seeming more daring at the time—slowing down is an uncommon compromise for any band capable of rocking as thoroughly as The Teen. But leader Judah Nagler traded guitar for all assortments of keyboards, organs, and grand pianos. The consistency trademarked by Fierce Parade remained intact and improved upon. The Teen sounded like the same band in a different lifetime. There was no clear, ready-for-breakthrough single. But my favorite tracks—“We Were Bound (To Bend The Rules)” or “Forsaken”—were still captivating to new listeners. In all these ways it was dramatic to even anticipate Elysium’s successor.

When we got a hold of them, GyzmKid’s three brief songs sounded astonishing. The Teen’s amniotic melodies didn’t negotiate the same control they had on previous releases, and yet that didn’t matter. The three songs on the EP felt frenetic in a real way. It’s so easy to expect then discuss a crazy band’s craziness; the challenge arrives when a beautiful band distorts itself, leaving music that is still beautiful, but has a look in it’s eye, as it were. That look remains rabid, even after consuming Cum Laude (GyzmKid’s corresponding full length) over and over. The songs arrange explosive applications of some of music’s densest genre’s, namely glitch techno and jazz. This is ballsy, considering The Teen’s pop credentials. But no trio is more ballsy, or understands its capacities better than Nagler, drummer Casey Dietz, and bassist/backing vocalist Josh Staples. The band—namely Mr. Dietz—shreds these songs to bits, finding more notes per frame than most bands find in a career. Then there’s the anomaly of the vocals, which are swathed in digital distortions that turn words into static notes. Two weeks ago, performing live at Bimbos in San Francisco, Mr. Nagler emphasized pre choruses and transitions with a bullhorn, replicating the loud, fuzzy distance perceived on the record. There are so few bands willing to rearrange themselves like this. Why is that?

The two tracks Nave reps are “Tokyoto” and “Building A Whale” (which he calls “the asskicker”). These tracks involve more thirty-second notes than the average listener could possibly be expected to identify with. Mr. Dietz would bring his history-shaking abilities to any band’s table (as he does with his spectacular other project, the math rock duo that is The Americas). Mr. Dietz is the finest drummer I have the opportunity to talk on even a semi-regular basis: he is precise, inventive, and has the coolest paint-speckled drum kit ever. Hopefully the posted vids and (brilliant) MP3’s will sponsor my opinion better than this.

Speaking of which, I’m definitely posting an MP3 of my favorite track, the pretty song “Noi Boi.” I found that two MP3 bloggers posted this track. That’s cool, in fact The Teen have a better presence on blogs than I thought. But I think this song is one of the best songs of the year: it’s catchy and easy to understand without forsaking any of the sputtery genius that makes Cum Laude super-duper. And the drumbeat in the chorus is straight tech. For the sake of the historical record, I was hoping this song would be one of those viral everyone-hears-it-then-tells-six-other-attractive-people sort of things. Maybe there’s still hope.

Please get Cum Laude. I’ve five-starred every track on iTunes. In addition to “Noi Boi,” my other favorite song (of the moment) is probably the Echo And The Bunnymen-ish “False Profits,” but I’m also going to post the ass-kicking “Building A Whale,” just so you know what the hell I’ve been talking about this whole time. Also, here are three other songs each from different, earlier albums. Tim Kasher, the accomplished, original songwriter for the Omaha band Cursive (who also released a great album this year), explained in a recent interview why he likes The Teen so much. (I know I’m dropping the hyperlink ball here in a major way, but neither Nave nor I can remember the publication or website, so find it and leave the link in a comment—we think it was in AP.) Kasher likes The Teen because they reinvent themselves on every record, and that is what makes them seem fearless. I think that makes The Velvet Teen the most punk band in pop.


Video for “Tokyoto” from the album Cum Laude.


Great video of “Noi Boi” live at Bimbos in San Francisco, where I was on November 10, 2006. Also from the album Cum Laude.

Right click and save to download ”Noi Boi” from the album Cum Laude by The Velvet Teen.
Right click and save to download ”Building A Whale” from the album Cum Laude by The Velvet Teen.
Right click and save to download ”Counting Backwards” from the album The Great Beast February by The Velvet Teen.
Right click and save to download ”Caspian Can Wait” from the album Out Of The Fierce Parade by The Velvet Teen.
Right click and save to download ”We Were Bound (To Bend The Rules)” from the album Elysium by The Velvet Teen.

The Velvet Teen’s WEBSITE.
The Velvet Teen on MYSPACE.
The Velvet Teen on PUREVOLUME.
The Velvet Teen on LAST.FM.
The Velvet Teen on WIKIPEDIA.
The Velvet Teen on HYPEMACHINE.
The Velvet Teen on AMAZON.
Bassist Josh Staples’ rad side project is THE NEW TRUST.
Drummer Casey Dietz’s other band detonates expectations and is called THE AMERICAS.
Support The Velvet Teen’s Portland, OR-based LABEL.