Miniboone – Bad Sports

There are certain acts that are so happy to be doing what their doing that you either fall in love with them, or can’t stand them. Think Matt & Kim (QRO spotlight on) or The Hold Steady (QRO live review). But every now and then one finds an act that is so happy to be doing what they’re doing that you can’t imagine anyone not loving them. Miniboone is that kind of act, whose exuberance and energy is ultra-infectious on Bad Sports.

Yes, the Brooklyn boys hew to energy and upbeat like the million-and-one party- & garage-rock bands in the borough, but their sound isn’t lost in sloppy power or lo-fi fuzz. Instead, they’re like an anthem to jump up & down & all-around to (as the group does on stage – QRO photos) on such Sports tracks as “Basic Song”, “Fake a Way”, “Any Other City”, “Erasure” and more – as the latter sings, “Dance all night”. “Wake Up Factory Bouquet” is practically a Miniboone mission statement not to “play dead”.

Even when Miniboone want to be downbeat on “IRL”, it’s outgoing; when they go smooth on closer “I Know You Would Do Anything For Love But What Would You Do For Me?”, it’s as fun as that title suggests. Oh, and they give an awesome name-check to Paul Simon’s amazing “The Boy In the Bubble” from the amazing Graceland (QRO deluxe edition review) on “I Don’t Wanna Write an Email”.

QRO fell in love with Miniboone pretty much on first listen/sight (QRO photos), and that’s kept up through prior releases like their self-titled debut full-length (QRO review). Yet Bad Sports feels even better.

Miniboone – Wake Up Factory Bouquet

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