My Best Evil Friend

The No Ones

explicit

Released on 3/31/23 by Yep Roc Records
Main artists: The No Ones
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Is it really nostalgia if the thing you're paying tribute to never went away? The No Ones—R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and his signature guitar sound, Scott McCaughey of The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus Five, and Norwegian musicians Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen and Frode Strømstad—revel in familiar pop sweetness: the sound of The Byrds, Big Star, Nick Lowe and The Paisley Underground. But there is nothing dusty or retro about their re-creation; this is purely the work of people playing the music they love, rather than putting it on a pedestal. Straight out of the gate, gleefully buoyant "KLIV" name-checks '60s radio earworms: "'One Last Kiss'/ And the 'Peppermint Twist'/ 'The Monster Mash' and 'Deadman's Curve' and Shangri-Las' cry and crash … Everybody loves 'Cathy's Clown'/ 'Tighten Up' with the Dixie Cups"—and this song itself belongs right in their company. "Cameo Parkway" is a psyched-out trip of tambourine rattle and garage-as-holy-temple organ, in the ? and the Mysterians style. The title is a reference to the Philadelphia labels, collectively known as Cameo Parkway, that released that band's classic "96 Tears," as well as a slew of Chubby Checker singles and even Elvis Presley's "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear." Dreamy "304 Molino Way," with its Byrds/Burritos chiming harmonies, is also told from a fan's perspective: "We sat on the floor/ Beneath the piano/ To us, you were a star." Indeed, McCaughey has said it's about unjustly overlooked singer-songwriter Pamela Polland, who has worked with Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, Joe Cocker and more, "and [was] the first artist to make us feel like more than just friends." Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard sings along on the sweet and heady "Song for George"—as in Harrison—while Debbi Peterson of The Bangles (whose own influence is all over this record) adds bittersweet harmonies on "Phil Ochs Is Dead," a tribute to the late protest singer that's delivered complete with a moody-chord jangle reminiscent of early R.E.M. Bassist Victor Krummenacher of Camper Van Beethoven and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake also join in. (At times, you might even think this is a Teenage Fanclub record.) The lyrics are sometimes obtuse ("Sugar pie's so high/ She sleeps like a trampoline/ Some Sister Sledge guitar/ A percolating funk machine" goes the first verse of Big Star-esque beauty "Throwdown in Whispertown") and often playful, as illustrated by the butter-wouldn't-melt "You're highly functional/ You're functionally high" harmonies of "Time Sent Lewis." It all ends in a heart-swelling swirl, almost orchestral in its pomp, courtesy of "The After Party"—which offers a cheeky glimpse into the life of a musician: Even when a show is "less than triumphant," the after party is a temporary balm, at least until the "morning, more mourning." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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My Best Evil Friend

The No Ones

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KLIV

00:02:45

PETER BUCK, Composer - SCOTT MCCAUGHEY, Composer - Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, Composer - The No Ones, MainArtist - Frode Stromstad, Composer - Wormwood Star Songs (SESAC), MacNor Music (BMI) adm. by BMG Bumblebee (BMI), Songs O'Routie (BMI), MusicPublisher