#9. Teens of Denial
By: Car Seat Headrest
With 2015’s Teens of Style consisting of old, re-recorded songs, Teens of Denial served as a proper studio debut for storied indie artist Car Seat Headrest. Turns out all those years of Bandcamp training have suitably prepared the band for this task. Denial technically only has twelve tracks, but with most of the songs stretching to six-plus minutes, there are more hooks than you could possibly keep track of. Every song is a mini song suite, meaning songs like “Drugs With Friends,” “Cosmic Hero,” and “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia” feel like an album unto themselves. Most albums this long and expansive will inevitably (and understandably) feel drudging and tiring, but not Teens of Denial. If you wanted sweet, melodic guitar rock in 2016, there was nowhere else to look.
Key Song:
“Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” - One of the most impressively written and recorded alt-rock songs of the decade, “DD/KW” is a prime example of the songs-within-a-song structure I was talking about. The song begins with a gentle tune strummed out on a guitar and ends with a furious manifesto of youthful angst.
By: Car Seat Headrest
With 2015’s Teens of Style consisting of old, re-recorded songs, Teens of Denial served as a proper studio debut for storied indie artist Car Seat Headrest. Turns out all those years of Bandcamp training have suitably prepared the band for this task. Denial technically only has twelve tracks, but with most of the songs stretching to six-plus minutes, there are more hooks than you could possibly keep track of. Every song is a mini song suite, meaning songs like “Drugs With Friends,” “Cosmic Hero,” and “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia” feel like an album unto themselves. Most albums this long and expansive will inevitably (and understandably) feel drudging and tiring, but not Teens of Denial. If you wanted sweet, melodic guitar rock in 2016, there was nowhere else to look.
Key Song:
“Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” - One of the most impressively written and recorded alt-rock songs of the decade, “DD/KW” is a prime example of the songs-within-a-song structure I was talking about. The song begins with a gentle tune strummed out on a guitar and ends with a furious manifesto of youthful angst.