Hold Up...

Tomorrow is the launch of The Hold Steady's newest album, Boys and Girls in America. I've posted about these guys before, but the lead up to this album has been hilariously overpromoted that I thought I'd do a quick round up for everyone.

Quickly to summarize, The Hold Steady is a Twin Cities band that prides themselves on being local, American, and very accessible. They write songs about actually people that you probably know, situations you've most likely been in if you grew up in any suburban town, and lead singer Craig Finn weaves in real and fabricated US cities into many of his songs.

Pitchfork has long been obsessed with The Hold Steady, and boldly gave the new album a 9.4 today. For me, they've been a bit of an acquired taste - in theory I love what they're all about, beer, small bars, and real life situations, but in practice Craig Finn's yelling of his lyrics can become somewhat grating.

That being said, Boys and Girls of America (currently available for streaming on Vagrant here) is very "listenable." If you liked The Hold Steady already, you'll love it, and if you thought songs like "MilkcrateMosh" and "You're Little Hoodrat Friend" got old quickly you might just enjoy the softer beats and melodies in Boys and Girls.

What I've found funniest about The Hold Steady though is watching the blogosphere just snowball them into the atmosphere. As I mentioned, Pitchfork has been championing them forever and last week Idolator picked up on their bias and poked some fun at them by polling readers on what grade Pitchfork would rate Boys and Girls (10, 9.9, etc). Pitchfork shot back with the exclusive first listen to the full album stream of Boys and Girls and a little ribbing of Idolator while they were at it (this kind of rivalry I predict will be entertaining for no less than 3 months).

Then this Saturday I open up my paper to see an enormous 2,300 word essay about none other than The Hold Steady, complete with an interactive map of the states and cities they've written about/been influenced by and audio clips.

Regardless of what I ultimately think of The Hold Steady, I back these guys for producing their own type of music and keeping to their motto of being a local band as well as letting the hype work in their favor. Anyone who says they've sold out doesn't appreciate the fact that they've produced a major commodity: unique music amongst a scene of repurposed chords, and they should be able to make some cash out of that. More power to 'em!

Below a round up of some recent coverage of The Hold Steady:

NYTimes Arts Section
Pitchfork - Review of Boys and Girls In America
Idolator commentary on Pitchfork's Coverage of The Hold Steady
Boys and Girls Streaming Music