"wonder where you went.... I searched everywhere..."
Before I jump into this, I hope that after you read my words and listen to this delicious track that you would read the "press notes" below. In this case, they are quite literally, a look into how this musical band / outfit came to be and it speaks to me and I hope you find it illuminating as well. Ok, now, about "You Slept With My Best Friend" by Bang Bang Jet Away, an artful indie rock duo of Matt Binder and Mike Kamoo out of San Diego, California. Quite simply, it is a post punk banger that you will want to play loud. There is a nice spatial spread to the sound but for the most part it feels like a pretty front facing attack with the sonic elements maybe pitched, this way or that, only about 14 percent giving you a wonderful raw sound like you are leaning on the monitors in a small club and getting an explosion of sound. I love the chunkiness, the bottom bass tones thumping along with the drums, the simplicity, yet artful chord play. Maybe most of all I love the vocal wail here, the aesthetic that pushes mid to upper registers with enough sandpaper, pain and urgency to make me feel something. Binder's vox are drenched in an emotional gravitas and in my gut, I feel a sort of buskery folk indie tone lying underneath the post punk wash. For some reason, there is a sort of Tom Petty-esque / Dylan sound around the edges or maybe deep in the center. At least I can hear it and that makes me happy.
It's a song about suspecting your girlfriend slept with your best friend, but you don't necessarily want confirmation that it's true, because then you'd have to deal with the consequences. - bang bang jet away
Bang Bang Jet Away is a vastly underrated outfit. It would be my wish that they would grace contemporary big stages. I would much rather see them on SNL than the likes of Billie Eilish because what they have to say feels so much more interesting. Keep the soundcloud link on after "You Slept With My Best Friend" for more of Bang Bang Jet Away (smiling).
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
spotify
https://www.facebook.com/bangbangjetaway
One evening, I sat down on my couch to watch Lars Von Trier’s 5 hour film, Nymphomaniac. By the time I made it to bed at 4am, I was in a very bad way. I did not sleep well, as my mind was filled with fresh horrors about the future of the world. I slept through my 7a.m. alarm and missed my morning meetings. The damage already done, I decided not to go to work. Instead, I picked up a guitar and started writing tunes, something I had not done in several years. By the end of the day I had enough for an EP. Thinking a new batch of tunes required a band to play them, I called up a few pals to see if they wanted to get together. However, these pals had all moved onto other things, and had no time for my songs. This is fine, I thought, the time to make music is behind me now. I, too, have moved onto other things. That night I walked over to my favorite Japanese restaurant and ate gyoza and ramen, while reading Volume 2 of Karl Ove’s My Struggle. Then it occurred to me that there had never been a time when I was living just one life, the life of a student, a lover, a salesman, a writer. Wherever I was, whatever I was engaged in, I was always leading multiple lives. I put down my book and called Kamoo to ask if he’d like to make a record with me. He said that he thought it sounded like a good idea. The project is called Bang Bang Jet Away, a small tribute to the best band in San Diego’s history, The Stereotypes. Hope you enjoy. - Matt
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