This performance of "Wind Phoenix" for KEXP, from Staten Island upstarts Cymbals Eat Guitars' buzzed about debut LP Why There Are Mountains, does well to capture their progress as a live band: the moments where the horizon-busting guitars and fluid, pulsing rhythms coalesce, moments where the lilt, fuzz and larynx-shredding squalls ring disjointed and flat. Maybe I'm still carrying the memory of seeing them twice in a week (once with the Antlers and White Rabbits at Bowery, and alone at Glasslands in Williamsburg two nights before), where I flipped all night between loving it and being left cold. On record they build their swelling and panoramic yet classic indie guitar rock more convincingly and consistently, earning all the favorable comparisons to Built To Spill and Modest Mouse, and my own comparison to Evangelicals (vocally). It's a good listen. We've stacked here "Wind Phoenix" in its KEXP video and studio MP3 form. I think this clip is better than they sounded in NYC that week, so it seems like their live set might already be improving.
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And the studio version:
Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Wind Phoenix"
Why There Are Mountains is out 9/23 via Sister's Den Records.
On tour:
06/28 - New York, NY @ Cake Shop w/ Bedtime & Teletextile
06/29 - Allston, MA @ Great Scott w/ Magic Magic & Bedtime
07/02 - Indianapolis, IN @ MOKB Presents @ Vollrath Tavern
07/04 - Des Moines, IA (80/35 Festival)
07/18 - Chicago, IL (Pitchfork Music festival)
And these, with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart:
09/05 - Boston, MA - Middle East Downstairs
09/06 - Montreal @ La Sala Rossa
09/07 - Toronto @ Horseshoe Tavern
09/08 - Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
09/09 - Madison, WI @ Stage Door at The Orpheum
09/10 - Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
09/12 - Morrisson, CO (Monolith Festival)
09/13 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
09/14 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux
09/17 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir (Musicfest NW)
09/21 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah
09/22 - Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
09/24 - Fort Worth, TX @ Lola's
09/25 - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
09/26 - New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
09/27 - Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
09/28 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
09/29 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
09/30 - Washington DC @ Black Cat
10/01 - Baltimore, MY @ Ottobar
10/05 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
