The Brother Kite--Waiting For The Time To Be Right--Loud Vibrations From Providence

It's like the old chicken vs egg analogy. Did they get Beach Boys in the My Bloody Valentine, or the My Bloody Valentine in the Beach Boys? Scientists and Sociologists may debate these issues and their ramifications for decades, but for you, the savvy and hip musical polyglot, the sonic benefits to you are here right now unobscured. Behold Waiting For The Time To Be Right by The Brother Kite.

The Brother Kite are a 5 piece band from Providence, Rhode Island who play a particularly melodic form of shoegaze. Endless Summer/Odessey and Oracle harmonies melded with beautiful modern noise like Kevin Shields or British Band Ride. Call them a noisy Zumpano. I think you get the basic picture. Waiting For The Time To Be Right came out in 2006 on Clairrecords, a label devoted to the shoegazing subgenre. The band is composed of Patrick Boutwell on Vocals, Jon Down Guitar/Engineer, Mark Howard on Guitar, Andrea Mason on Bass, and Matt Rozzero on Drums. Together they have created a truly beautiful loud guitar album with massive enveloping soundscapes.



A typical song on WFTRT is Get On, Me, with melodic vocals trading with loud treble reminiscent of David Kilgour's work with The Clean. I'm Not The Only One is a short high powered burst, featuring great drum work by Matt Rozzero. If you had any doubt that Brother Kite were Beach Boys aficionados, hearing the sleighbells on Out Of Sight are an overt giveaway. The songs on this album are amazing sounding. To get these astounding tones and textures they actually built their own home studio. This album is a definite essential buy for shoegaze fans--anyone who enjoys Ride, Slowdive, Jesus and Mary Chain or current bands like Sleepover Disaster. But I feel the noise is just icing on a melodic cake. Brian Wilson is a major player here as I have mentioned. The songs beneath the maelstrom are really well constructed--you would enjoy these songs if they were just acoustic demos. And Patrick Boutwell has a great voice to boot.

Clairrecords/Tonevendor is a great website for fans of shoegaze/experimental/creative music. They put out and sell interesting bands from all over the world, from California all the way to Estonia, and stocking cool little known recordings that would you be hard pressed to find in other places on the Internet. Bands like Secret Shine, Guitar, and Air Formation. Definitely a site worth checking out. But I would definitely recommend The Brother Kite. A good place to start actually might be the Moonlight Race Ep which contains Get On, Me, and also the excellent tune Half Century. Brother Kite but in a smaller dose. They have also released a new Cd this year entitled Isolation, which I have not heard yet, but hope to soon. I hope that many of you will do the same.