Phil Avalos and the Quiet Lanes: Don't Shake Me Up
by Matt Barber
“Come on kids and grab my song, and just hang on,” Phil Avalos urges during “Hang On,” one of fourteen concise, crunchy nuggets of inviting, addictive pop covered in grungy guitar that comprise Don’t Shake Me Up. Anyone with a love for the musical junction where hooky power-pop merges with raw, honest indie-rock sound quality and the hyper thrust of punk should follow Avalos’ lyrical advice. It seems that the main goal of Avalos and his backing band, The Quiet Lanes, is to make songs that are short but sweet enough to stick in minds for a long time. Don’t Shake Me Up is loaded with choruses that keep coming back like boomerangs. The fact is, even if you don’t grab Avalos’ tunes, they’re likely to grab onto you, they’re so relentlessly catchy. They’re the kind of songs you find yourself spontaneously humming before you’re even aware of it. This disc is liable to satisfy fans of early Green Day and Weezer as well as lesser known, but no less influential, bands like Superchunk, Guided By Voices, and The Promise Ring. Sometimes the inspiration is mined from bands as far back as The Jam, but the reference points here come from the mid ’90s, when the most exciting music emanated from basements and garages in college towns. For more info visit www.philavalos.com.
Questions or Comments for Artvoice? Send e-mail to editorial@artvoice.com • Article last modified 12/5/2005
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