REDEEMING DELILLO:

The Airborne Toxic Event: “just drinking and dancing and screaming and practicing...” ALIE WARD, March 7, 2007, LA Weekly)

WHO: Absurdly rich with talent, this Los Feliz five-piece is composed of hyperliterate front man Mikel Jolet, resident spaz/drummer Daren Taylor, bassist and “tone Nazi” Noah Harmon, keyboardist/classically trained violinist Anna Bulbrook, and on guitars and keys, Steven Chen, who’s also working on his first novel.

SOUNDS LIKE... : Having earned comparisons to Modest Mouse, the Smiths and the Cure, Airborne Toxic Event delivers choruses so adhesive and memorable (as on radio favorite “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?”) that you’ll discover yourself humming them like a well-worn cassette from college. Drums demand foot-stomping participation, viola is laced between indulgent guitar hooks, and the lyrics, labored over for months and crooned dryly by Jolet, are just wry and chagrined enough to tickle your nerd bone. [...]

SOMETHING ABOUT THAT VOICE: Jolet’s baritone could compete with some of the best in Britpop, but a discerning ear may recognize the singer’s speaking voice from occasional contributions as an essayist on NPR.

Two perfect pop minutes.

-MYSPACE: The Airborne Toxic Event

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 11, 2007 1:19 PM