Why are Best Coast good? This is a thought that, more or less, has been with me recently. It started with Girls - why are a band so derivative and formulaic so enjoyable to listen to? You've heard their songs a thousand times before.
Perhaps we are moving towards a climate where originality is no longer paramount in music, and simply putting together well-constructed, well-performed songs is now highly prized. After all, Dylan started his career playing traditional folk songs because it simply didn't occur to him to write his own material.
It might also be a re-acceptance of tradition. I can't remember a time when there have been so many bands drawing upon sun-drenched or girl-group 60s pop for their sounds. A socio-economic slant might read the sharp cuts and promises of a bleak future as inspiring a reaching out to sunnier times; the innocent, simple pop melodies of our parents' youth. Indeed we could be reclaiming the prospects that our baby-boomer forebears enjoyed and subsequently consumed; cheap property, secure pensions, job prospects. After all the attention on the '68 movements, where is our generation's '68?
Anyway, Best Coast do not deserve to be submitted to such waffle. Bethany Consantino's voice glides perfectly over the backing harmonies and Fender Jaguar-esque guitar. Simple chord changes, simple lyrics, yet immediately appealing - "there's something about the summer" - this defies explanation but just works. Perhaps that is the secret. Walter Pater wrote that "all art aspires towards the condition of music" - it is inherently abstract. You just listen and enjoy.
Best Coast: "Boyfriend"
: "Summer Mood"
: "I Want To"
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