Band : Funeral Party
Album title : Golden Age Of Knowhere
Label : RCA Records
Distributor : Sony Music
Release date : 25/01/2011
Release : CD

If there's one positive thing you can say about this Californian band, it's that they set themselves apart from their peers admirably. Based in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier (which is dominated by Hardcore and Metal acts), the band was started in 2004 by friends Chad Elliott (lead vocals & keyboards), James Lawrence Torres (guitar), Kimo Kauhola (bass) and Tim Madrid (drums), naming themselves after the The Cure song and also taking their lead from that band to create a modern version of the Electronics and Funk infused "New Wave" The Cure is known for, with slightly moaned lead and backing vocals.

Initially the guys didn't have any instruments of their own, and they just borrowed those from the bands they played with. Over time the guys got themselves quite a cult following, playing numerous gigs at backyard parties and warehouses in the Los Angeles area every weekend. After witnessing one of their shows, recording engineer/ producer Lars Stalfors, whom primarily works with The Mars Volta, invited the band to record in their studio...the first session yielding the song "Chalice". The band then got signed to Fearless Records, who released the Bootleg EP in 2008. But label and band were clearly ill-matched, as FP are far from the usual Pop Punk acts the label is known to go for, and the latter was therefore unable to give the band the backing it normally gives its products...so FP did their best to be thrown off their label, and Sony was already knocking at the door. Meantime the band was of course playing gigs on an almost continuous mode, not only touring in support of the likes of Yelle, (...And You Will Know Us By The) Trail Of Dead, Julian Casablanca, and Two Door Cinema Club, but also putting n appearances at festivals such as the famed SxSW and Japan's Fiji Rock. Earlier in 2010 the band did a short tour of the UK, which comprised appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. In the Fall of 2010 the band returned to the UK as support for Thirty Seconds To Mars, and as a result a UK media buzz around the American band took place. British Pop magazine NME even placed the band at #46 in their "50 Best New Bands Of 2010" in their end-of-year list. Besides that the band got a spotlight feature in UK's famed Q Magazine, and were added to BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe's "Hottest Record In The World" playlist.

Soon after signing to Sony's sub-label RCA, the band finished recordings for their debut album under productional guidance of Lars Stalfors. For the mixing of the material the band employed Dave Sardy (of Band Of Horses, LCD Soundsystem, and Oasis repute). A first single wasreleased for "New York City Moves To The Sound Of L.A." (June 11, 2010), followed up by one for "Just Because" (August 30, 2010), and then by "Finale" (December 10, 2010), but it was the recently released video for the band's UK hit "Just Because" which garnered praise from BBC's Chart Blog, calling it "...one hell of a Pop song...". That all this praise is nót just media buzz, is something the more Pop-minded among us can convince themselves of by litening to the 2 tracks posted at the home page of the band's own (www.) funeralpartymusic.com (more music can be found via the news section with an acoustic session on Beable Music) and in the video section...and on the band's MySpace page (www.) myspace.com/funeralparty. The band just recently (during mid-February) made a short visit to selected UK and European venues (including a gig at Brussel's AB Club   on Feb 17), but aren't expected back in our neighborhood before the end of May (when they have a London gig already planned). If you're interested in this sort of music, I strongly suggest you check out the dates well in advance, because at least in the UK I'm guessing the guys are playing to packed houses!

PS. : Goin' on the info at hand, the band have recently parted ways with their original drummer (only plays drums and percussion on 2 of the album's 11 tracks, and the pictures in the booklet depict the band as a trio). Also, it looks like they recruited an additional keyboardist for live purposes, because the label info speaks about a 5-piece band on two occasions!

90/100

Tony.