FITS

I broadly agree with the previous reviewer. This is a sometimes bewildering mixture of styles which when it gets it right is very good but some of it jars. Still, you can't push boundaries without treading on a few toes. Worth buying, and it will probably grow on me.

an aquired taste,not in the same league as the brilliant D or Corsicana Lemonade..

Mad as a March Hare and nothing too wrong with that of course.We all need a little madness once in a while to keep us on our toes.White Denim certainly provide more than a little on their new album 'Fits'.Eclectic, as a description, doesn't quite do this collection of 12 pieces justice.There is a raw coherence in this music.Messrs Petralli (Vocals/Guitar), Terebeki (Bass) and Block (Drums) cookup a rich rhythmic stew which for the most part follows its own rules.Echoes of Hendrix, Beefheart and Zappa permeate the intra-cellularstructure of these fine compositions. Head music. Heart music too.There is so much good energy bursting out of these boys that therecording can barely contain it. Heck its all good !'All Consolation' with its disembodied vocals and cataclysmic ensemble playingwill put cracks in your ceiling if played at the intended (ie : LOUD) volume.'Say What You Want' is a riot. The central riff and Mr Petralli's raspingperformance transport us back to a kind of late sixties hippie heaven,complete with sitar-like guitar interlude. I almost cried with nostalgic joy!The blistering scat of 'El Hard Attack DCWYW' is as good a piece of rockoverload as you are likely to hear this year.The whole band performs like a dream team in 'I Start To Run'.It feels like it could ride off the rails at any moment but skill, trust andchemistry keep the raucous proceedings travelling in a straight line.Things lighten up a little with 'Paint Yourself'. The delightful shuffling beat andloose-limbed vocal performance are perhaps the album's true highlight.The dark strands of final track 'Sync' weave in and out of consciousnesslike an uncomfortable dream from which we cannot easily wake.The final bars, however, drag us upward towards an rousing conclusion.Powerful, unpredictable and idiosyncratically performed rock of the highest calibre.I can't stop playing it and I don't really want to.Highly Recommended.

The Texas trio White Denim have a fortunate problem on "Fits" namely a massive pool of ideas upon which they draw to throw everything into this album plus the kitchen sink. When things work it is truly great stuff and potentially this is one of the finest US bands emerging from a very strong crop of contenders. Austin Texas seems to be churning them out a mile a minute and here in the UK we can only turn slightly green with envy at the quality and and verve of American garage bandsThe problem I have with this album is that some parts of it are easier to admire than love. True some of the songs are absolute standouts -* "Radio Milk how can you stand it" has the best driving guitar licks this side of a Comets on Fire album. You can't really call it boogie but it has that quality that Cream used to infuse into their music* "Mirrored and Reserve" - This resonates with the sounds of the great American psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. If the Doors were just starting up (and Jim Morrison wasn't pretending to be an Indian Shaman and spending all his time with bonkers women who thought they were white witches) this is the type of music they would be creating. Its brilliant stuff with a fantastic driving rhythm overlaying a complex song and is probably the albums highlight.* "Paint yourself" - alternatively is jazzy and light and no bad thing either. It adds colour and shade to the album and is the nearest thing the band has produced that could be described as "pop". It could be a single is very radio friendly* "I start to run" - another highlight. Almost a stax beat kicks off the song and I am reminded of George Clinton and Funkadelic. Funky rock of the highest order with a great vocal.Mentions in dispatches should also go to the lovely "Regina Holding hands" An acoustic driven "white soul" love song which is transforms itself midway into song that could happily sit on an Isley Brothers album. Similarly "Say what you want" is a nice dark little ditty with a rumbling bass line and a gentle electric guitar. Its restraint is a virtue and it's wonderfully understated. Not everything works "All consolation" is all over place and chaotic. El Hard Attack DCWYW could appear on any album of fellow Texans the Mars Volta its ok but hardly scintillating. A range of other songs such as the instrumental "Sex Prayer" is very clever indeed but will I listen to on a regular basis?A few quibbles then but overall good stuff from a band who are dramatically improving on every outing and probably have a truly great album up their sleeve. "Fits" is not quite it but watching them seek to achieve it will be fascinating.

Although this won't be everyone's cuppa, Fits fizzes along touching many different bases along the way. Garage Rock is a cliche that doesn't do any justice to these guys. The sheer imagination and energy shown through the album keeps you smiling longer than the 30 odd minutes it lasts for.An initial listen may seem chaotic and ramshackle, but on repeated listens this albums shows many gems.Like the Minutemen playing Hendrix tracks for the new Millennia, White Denim take the punk ethos that anything goes and melds it with fine musicianship. Highly Recommended (and check them out live if you can).