Rotary Downs
Long After The Thrill (2003, Static On Vinyl)(1.9/5)

Long After The Thrill is RD's second full-length and no doubt finds them worshipping at the school of Pavement, right down to the song structures, vocal stylings and irony-laden lyrics. No, this is not a case of lazy reviewer or lack of breadth, it's for real. 100% Pavement. The only other band I could even remotely compare this to is The Beauty Shop, as Long After The Thrills features a decidedly healthy dose of pedal steel used in a mid-fi indie format. This would normally be AOK by me but this batch of tunes comes off as terribly lacking in panache and gusto. It took until the 6th track, "A+ Blood Giver", for me to find something to cling onto with its hooky guitar lines and overall vibe. It really doesn't take off from there but more or less flattens back out to mediocrity.

This reminds me of a band I was introduced to about 5 years ago, Yuppie Flu from Italy. They introduced themselves to the world as lovers of all things Pavement on their superb Automatic But Static debut, however, those guys have worked their way forward into a sound of their own over the past 4 releases. Here's to hoping Rotary Downs follows suit on future efforts.

-Beat 5/4/05