Sometimes I'm at a loss for describing music in the written word, but goddamn, it feels like my site outright exists for records like this one. I didn't know one whit about Boston's
Curious Ritual before this landed in my "buy" pile at an indie shop I've long since forgotten the name and place of, but this coed quartet's inclusion of a Big Star cover meant that I was certainly adopting it. Sonic signposts point to another Beantown band of yore, Christmas, not to mention early Throwing Muses and Vomit Launch. With it's droney guitar line, and hypnotic, layered vocals, "How Fast" is the stuff of sublime, collegiate radio alchemy. An impeccable exercise in harnessing the appropriate quotient of every musical molecule without conveying itself as the least bit forced or formulaic. I'm stunned I wasn't tipped off to Curious Ritual sooner. On the aforementioned remake, the band applies the same earnest veneer to the downcast "Kanga Roo," one of Alex Chilton's most moving pieces from Big Star's comparatively neglected
Third album. C/R have made a handful of their other recordings available on
Bandcamp and are well worth your attention.
A. How Fast
B. Kanga Roo
