Crush

To quote Bart Simpson in the episode where Homer ran off to enroll in clown college, "Well, I don't think any of us saw THAT coming!" Sure, Abe Vigoda's last release, the 2009 EP Reviver, was a bit less aggressively noisy than their earlier work, and made more assertive use of synthesizers, and for that matter contained a completely unironic cover of a Stevie Nicks song. But in a strong candidate for 2010's most unexpected mid-career changeup, the Los Angeles quartet named for the 1970s character actor have apparently decided that they'd now like to be the next Interpol. It's not necessarily a surprise that Crush dispenses with the band's trademark Latin-tinged rhythms, since former drummer Reggie Guerrero left the band last year, but singer Michael Vidal's entirely revised low-register singing voice, all David Bowie by way of Ian McCulloch, and the newly synth-led arrangements make the changeover complete. It's not necessarily bad: they're talented guys who have always shown an ability to balance subtly poppy hooks with sheets of atmosphere, and songs like the dreamy "Beverly Slope" do a fine job of their newly-chosen style. But anyone who loved previous Abe Vigoda albums like Kid City and Skeleton, where the songs would take seemingly random leaps from tightly-wound jangle-pop to Central American dance grooves to full-on guitar noise onslaughts and back, will find these greatly simplified songs disappointingly monochromatic. We already have bands that sound like Crush, and didn't particularly need another.