Codeine Velvet Club

It’s... the forgotten soundtrack to L.A. Confidential! Boy/girl Hollywood sleaze. Slick, slinky, skeazeball polished indie rock along the lines of, oh dear, the Raveonettes. The album cover pretty much says it all: sunglasses, martinis, dark & dry detective movie. The boy sounds like the love child between Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) and Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian) -- which is little surprise given that he’s freaking Jon Lawler (of the Fratellis) -- though I could be making mountains of the lispy/wispy Scots accent. Anyway, the girl can belt the soul, soul, soul. Loads borrowed from 50s boy/girl crooners, big band, surf/western, film noir, and good old land of sunshine shimmer/glimmer rock.

Further hilarity: this band is already broken up. Nicely done, guys.

try: 4, 2, 9, 7
no FCCs

1. ~5 sec to start. rollicky circular (well, galloping triplets) drum kit and beachy girl-vox callbacks. highbrow strings epicness.
*2. saucy sax and sultry “la da da da da” chick vocals. hints of the pink panther theme. swinging, mid-tempo. on the heavy side.
3. chill cruise ship vibe. lazy high-beam guitar. faster, bustier chorus with sax. time changes throughout.
*4. minimal/slow start w/plinky bassoon, ~14 sec in kicks into a mission impossible-type bells & bass mover. fanfarey (cue: kick line) big brass chorus. ends how it starts.
5. horrifying swing! vamps “hey little sister” against a big band backup. mid-fast electric guitars and parallel-move rude brass.
6. sudden, soft and chill start. shimmery cymbals and bells. very cocktail party. like, with a lagoon. slow 3/4, dreamy, fuzzy, melty, ‘ah’s.
*7. succeeds in blending french swoon and western skeaze. light-touch, bells and guitar. FYI: the title means “stay with me”. over at 5 sec to end.
8. starts with heavy peanuts-theme (esque!) piano. gets a little old-time rocky. it’s like the beatles on the beach. heavy parallel-move chorus. repetitive. EARLY FADE.
*9. dig-in snake charmer bass riff and slinkster western clang guitars. groovy, downtempo.
10. prim orchestral strings intro. rollaway 3/4 and military drum kit.
11. oh hell no. shimmery, l.a.-sleaze take on the stone roses classic. vibes + surf guitar + rolling stones quick-chord changes. ends with excitable sax. not bad, but not the original. what hey, i’m a purist. fun fact: trent can sign this whole song in ASL.