New Music: Capgun Coup

Team Love Records, the Saddle Creek offshoot co-founded by Conor Oberst, is re-releasing an exciting record today. Capgun Coup’s Brought To You By Nebraskafish was originally released through Slumber Party Records and will drop September 25. Anyone who is a fan of Bright Eyes, particularly the sweeping Midwest emo-folk of Lifted, or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground, should definitely check it out.

I’m an album guy first and foremost, and normally I prefer them short and sweet: 10 or 11 songs that come in, say what they want to say and leave before they overstay their welcome. What I can’t stand is when an album has too many songs - 7 or 8 really good ones, 2 or 3 OK ones, and a handful of boring/lousy ones that ruin what should be a concise, thrilling listen. Too many artists don’t understand the relatively simple concept and are in desperate need of an editor (I’m thinking of you Ryan Adams, Modest Mouse, and, uh, Bright Eyes). Not many artists can pull off the extended/double album. The 15 track-long Brought To You By Nebraskafish works mostly because the band mixes up minimal bedroom folk, moody and melodic rockers, and a few sound collages to create a listening experience that flows seamlessly through all styles, even if it does start to teeter out just a bit by the end.

Capgun Coup is made up of four friends from Omaha who, if one is to believe a band’s bio, are “not the most well-versed students of rock music”. Sam Martin (vocals, guitar, samples) and Greg Elsasser (vocals, keys, samples) bring opposite musical personalities to the band, as Martin’s more song-oriented approach counters Elsasser’s love of spacey noise. Andy Matz (bass, vocals) and Eric Ohlsson (drums, vocals) give the songs their sturdy foundation. “Bobby Chops And The Do-Gooders” may be the best representation of this on record. The song is upbeat and catchy for an unlikely 7 minutes, with a chorus that will have you singing along long after you’d think it would have grown tiresome. In other places the band’s loose, sprawling lo-fi sound recalls some of the other acts that have come out of the Midwest scene this decade, but Capgun Coup infuses those influences with its own distinct brand of enthusiasm. Oberst done good at finding these guys.

MP3 :: Bobby Chops And The Do-Gooders
MP3 :: Oh My Mod
MP3 :: My Tears Cure Cancer
(from Brought To You By Nebraskafish. Buy here)
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