Tiny Masters of Today
Tiny Masters of Today
I posted the video for ‘Skeletons’ a few days ago, but I didn’t offer much in the way of commentary on teen rockers Tiny Masters of Today. The reason being I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about them. When I first received their CD, I put it on in the car for roughly three tracks, then ditched it in favor of Wire’s Object 47 (probably an issue related to my mood that day rather than the music itself). I thought ‘This has not only been done before, but it’s been done to death!’. So I tucked it away in my review pile, and essentially relegated it to back-burner status.
Eventually, I came upon it again. And I figured, hey, when has Mute ever steered me wrong? Just in the last two years they’ve brought Fever Ray, M83, Moby, Polly Scattergood and Goldfrapp to my stereo, so surely they wouldn’t toss something deliberately terrible at me, would they? Stephanie is just too nice for that.
Context can be everything, and upon listening to the album again, I found I really enjoyed it. I also discovered that the band creating these songs consists of sibling duo Ivan & Ada, who are 15 and 13, respectively. They began releasing their homemade recordings in 2005 on Myspace. Let that sink in for a moment. These kids were releasing music as tweens! Pre-tweens even! And are now signed to Mute Records! With an album they recorded in GarageBand! I can’t help but tip my hat to that (as well as throw in some excessive punctuation).
Back to the music – it’s simple, to be sure. A sort of tween pop garage-punk that reminds me of the The Pixies vs The Go Team vs Prinzhorn Dance School in a battle to the death. Sort of how I’d always wished The Donnas would sound but never did. The band had some famous collaborators in the form of Nick Zinner & Karen O., Fred Schneider and Gibby Haynes, and their influence can definitely be felt (Haynes touch seems unmistakable on tracks like ‘Two Dead Soldiers’ and ‘Big Stick’).
While I do like the album, I think it’s best experienced as individual tracks. Listening to the entire album in a single setting can be overwhelming and gives the impression that every song sounds the same when they really don’t. The charm of tracks like ‘Real Good’ or ‘Monkey in the Middle’ can easily be lost in the noise.
The band have a new video out today for single ‘Pop Chart’ – a cute poke at the current state of the record industry. Skeletons will be out on June 2nd.
Hey Sean,
I’m reviewing this album tonight.
I did have the same first reaction. I was prepared to discredit it entirely. I’m not willing to say that it’s good, but at the very least decent.