#17 Foxygen - We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

[Soundtrack]

Hippie: The sound of the 60's you say, eh? Come on man! The 60's are dead!

Hipster: No bro...You gotta hear these guys, they're from Westlake Village, CA

Hippie: Huh?

Ok...you get the idea. Let me sum it up for you: These two dudes from a suburb of LA, have been making 60's revival tunes since they were kids and this year at 22, they put out one of the most ambitious releases...well...ever. Lead singer Sam France's voice sounds like he's sat in front of a record player singing back at old Dylan tunes since he was a toddler. Guitarist Jonathan Rado looks like he's been staring at picture of Dylan, trying to re-create his look

Yeah, I get it...a lot of bands have come along and tried to be like Dylan, or even The Kinks, but none in recent memory have pulled it off so genuinely as Foxygen. This project seemingly came out of nowhere in the indie-sphere. Nobody has ever gotten this kind of indie-cred for a hippied-out psychedelic folk rock project...Maybe the New Bohemians, but they ate wayy too much acid and fizzled out

These guys nail down the vibe. On the album's first single, "Shuggie" they spew lines that make you chuckle and grin like:

I met your daughter the other day, that was weird
She had rhinoceros shaped earrings in her earsIt makes you feel like he was perusing a knick-knack store in the Haight-Ashbury in 1969 and he noticed a flower-girl wearing said earrings. The Haight-Ashbury of course, being the most famous hippie-gathering spot in San Francisco, CA in the 60's and 70's. More whimsy from Foxygen on the aptly-named "San Francisco":

I left my love in San Francisco (that's okay, I was bored anyway)
I left my love in the room (that's okay, I was born in L.A.)
I left my love in San Francisco (that's okay I was bored anyway)
I left my love in a field (that's okay, I was born in L.A.)And now we feel like we're a part of their West Coast road trip in an old VW van or something...In fact, they recorded the album in Oregon with notable indie producer Richard Swift, who's based out of SF and soon thereafter returned home to LA

You can tell these cats are record-junkies. On the album's purest track, "On Blue Mountain," where a deep organ permeates throughout, the choral melody is a tip of the cap to "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley...even an abrupt tempo-change from chorus to verse is reminiscent of the King. We need more artists taking cues from Elvis in this world

Finally, Foxygen aren't just wannabe 60's kids...they've got some bite too. The album's loudest and most eloquent moment of passive aggression comes on "No Destruction." A delightfully psychadelic farmhouse tune that for the first two minutes talks about "Smoking pot in the subway" and "my Grandma who lost her arms in the war" and then out of nowhere, France drops the hammer:

There’s no need to be an asshole, you’re not in Brooklyn anymoreOk...you can laugh now. But it comes off so passive that you don't feel hate as much as they just wanna be left in peace. If they can manage to get along and make another gem like We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, then I'm down quit being an ass hole
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Peep the archives of all of the albums reviewed up to this point

#16 drops tomorrow so stay tuned!