Hail from Oakland, California, Mario Hernandez is the leader of the pack and an indie pop veteran soldier, having being part of well-liked bands Ciao Bella and From Bubblegum To Sky. After spending time in NYC, Mario returned to California and hooked up with Bill Evans (guitar) and Becky Barron (drums).
They recorded We Love You So Bad, which turns out to be an album that will probably appeal to listeners of The Kills (QRO live review), The Raveonettes (QRO album review), Primitives, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (QRO live review), and Best Coast (QRO live review). Another clear influence upon this album is record producer and songwriter, Phil Spector. The album is an interesting mix of shoegaze, buzz pop, Californian sunshine music and the ‘60s.
If you were to sum up the tracks on the album, they may run like this:
I Don’t Want To Call You, Baby, Baby
Jesus and the Mary Chain, but less fuzzy or distorted.
Trumpets Of Death
First example of Phil Spector and The Ronnettes.
Dead Ripe
Try’s to be catchy, but in reality is repetitive, with a tin drum, which sounds like cake tins.
It’s In My Blood
Imagine bombing along in an open top Chevrolet along Highway Route 66 and you may have this on.
Sweet Tooth
A twee sweet song to go with a sweet tooth. In reality, Camera Obscura (QRO live review) and Au Revoir Simone (QRO spotlight on) do it so much better.
To Mess With Dynamite
Good vocals again, with a good song and a good chorus.
Impasto
In English, the borrowed Italian word impasto most commonly refers to a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface (or the entire canvas) very thickly, usually thickly enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible.
In reality this is a dreamy track, sounds like it’s been recorded in a tunnel, rather than, on the way to "Heaven." as Hernandez repeats until the track fades out. Maybe initially the idea of creating a Spector-influenced album seemed an inspirational idea by Hernandez, but in reality the whole album has maybe had a similar level of tender loving care, as the tracks are slapped on, without too much care or precision. More hit and miss than planned.
Jean-Paul Sartre 2
Puts the listener out of their misery, a messy, sometimes out of beat finale, which did not appear to be strongest and results in a weak anti-climax.
We Love You So Bad starts off well enough before losing its way, and starts to get annoying. Tries to be catchy, but the songs don’t appear strong enough. Yes, it’s dark surf pop with production and recording which is rough around the edges. Ironically this was something that Hernandez went out to replicate, in a similar vain to the technology Spector had available to him at the time. The album isn’t offensive and will enhance someone’s collection, but in reality, it’s a throwaway album, which just like Spector is destined to spend its life on the shelf.
MP3 Stream: "To Mess With Dynamite"
