I WAS FIRED UP at first. Dave Bazan from Pedro the Lion was telling me about his “new favorite band,” Seattle’s Crystal Skulls. “They’re so good! Have you heard them?!” he asked excitedly. And I bought it. Really fast. Fishhook-pierced-through-lip. But then skepticism flooded in; I remembered dude was touring with them. Of course he’d talk them up. And, of course, I used that to build a wall of bias.
But where there’s bias, there’s usually reverse bias, or reactionary bias—in this case, me hating on a band I’d never even heard. Blocked Numbers is Crystal Skulls’ debut record. It came out just, like, five minutes ago on the Suicide Squeeze label, and it’s everything I thought it wouldn’t be. Songs like the lead-off track, “Airport Motels,” have the warmth and smiley bass of ’60s pop, but they minor chord things up because Sonic Youth came to earth and died on the indierock cross for our sins. The choruses kick in, led by gorgeous drum builds, and the guitars are really keyboards—or are they guitars pretending to be keyboards?
“Beat Me to It” sounds like “One is the Loneliest Number,” with tidy, squared-away Aimee Mann-ic piano leads. “Count Your Gold” could be Pavement, but Crystal Skulls don’t futz around with being arty or difficult. They just wanna entertain you, give you some pretty noise to head nod to, some indiepop that actually sounds like pop.
Blocked Numbers ends with the under-three-minute “Away from Home,” a song about a town where girls with hair extensions trade boyfriends to keep them—and themselves—interested. It’s all “Here Comes the Sun King” bass, and story-song morals. Then comes the time change, and the song speeds forward and the singer’s voice moans under a slight vocal filter. And the drums clack and click and clack and… it’s kinda frightening to think how big this band could get. Sorry, Dave. Sorry I was skeptical.