November 14, 2012

Hundred Visions :: Permanent Basement

Austin's Hundred Visions may only have a handful of releases to their name—a few digital singles, a 7" and now their first full-length—but they are quickly becoming one of the very best straight-up rock 'n' roll bands around. The group's 10-track debut Permanent Basement—free until Friday right here—combines every one of Hundred Visions' tracks to date along with 4 sparkling new wrecking balls, like "Sensory Kid," a two-and-a-half-minute arms-flailing, head-banging fastball of post-punk dynamite. While another excellent track, "Regina, Hold The Line," falls along the similarly rambunctious and racing force of previously released cuts "Red Tide" and "The Light That Starts The Day," the band also offers up a pleasantly surprising curveball with the catchy-as-hell soul number "Walk Right Up." Frontman Ben Maddox—who also plays in our other favorite Austin band, TV Torso—takes a commanding presence over the course of Permanent Basement, but it's on "Walk Right Up" where he really kicks down the listener's front door and leaves nothing but a pile of smoldering splinters. Over lingering plucks of guitar, a humming organ, and chorusing backup singers, Maddox channels the likes of Sam Cooke with his own distinctive raspy warmth and ferocity. The immediacy of these ten tracks as a whole is undeniable: you hit play and you're sucked into a 31-minute-long vortex containing some of the year's very best musicianship and songwriting. How do these guys not have a major label contract already? How are they not headlining clubs across the country? Fans of Spoon, The Walkmen, The War On Drugs, and White Denim: meet America's next great rock band, Hundred Visions.

Get Permanent Basement from Hundred Visions' Bandcamp.

Hundred Visions - "Walk Right Up" (from Permanent Basement)

Last Cab from Tunis - Single - Hundred Visions

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