Best Coast - Crazy For You (2010, Mexican Summer) - a brief evaluation

Nipping at the heals of a year or so's worth of singles and eps, the much ballyhooed indie duo of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno, who collectively comprise Best Coast, drop their first full length and I'm here to spill a few words regarding it (guess I couldn't spell it out any more clearly than that, huh)?  The album in question, Crazy For You, generally falls in line with the formula established on the group's short-form precursors, consisting of cooing, '60s girl group harmonies amidst a carefully manicured layer of buzzing guitars, but this time the results are hookier and even more immediate.  BTW, the "surf" quotient is de minimis at best, but you didn't hear that from me.

Best Coast ensconce themselves in a lovingly, retro-fitted cocoon wherein bubble-gummy romantic concerns and beach-combed reveries have full reign.  The overall effect is that of a warm, Phil Spector-laced "wall-of-sound" dovetailing with a cauldron-pitched, echoing undercurrent that coincidentally or not has permeated The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the most recent Beach House album, and sretching back a few decades, the Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy.  A similar sonic combination has been successfully employed before with '90s-Aughts era, mini-orchestral combos like the Heavy Blinkers and Outrageous Cherry, only in the case of Best Coast the mouthpiece is exclusively feminine.  Regarding those windpipes more specifically, Cosentino bears a vocal timbre that splits the difference between Kim Shattuck of the Muffs and Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), sans the bratty sneer of the former and the haunting ambiance of the latter. 

Crazy tends to exude a samey feel, particularly when listened to in one setting, but a couple of relatively strident numbers, namely "When the Sun Don't Shine" and "Happy," boast a unique flair of their own.  At the end of the day, Best Coast walk the hype-ridden walk.  Crazy For You can be obtained from all the usual sources: Amazon, Insound, iTunes, and of course your neighborhood record dispensary if you're fortunate enough to have one.