This week's BREAKING SOUNDS installment goes to the prodigious bad vibrations of Seattle's Idle Times, whose debut 7" this month on Woodsist is already setting a high benchmark for distortion as a second language. Headed by Brian Standeford of other notable Seattle bands such as Tall Birds and The Catheters, this new concoction of rhythmically baroque pop songs that he's thrust forth under the name Idle Times has disrupting noise all to itself, so you'd better sit up and take notice. Just as The Intelligence have been covertly notarized by the French underground as embodying the perfect futuristic primitive groove, soon you'll see Idle Times take the shape of a ballistic rocket to the top of your dome with equal effect. Everything about these guys from the striking sleeve designs to their introspective name seems to cast a shadow of morose negativity, but if you really dig in and listen to everything that's going, it's apparent that Idle Times are poised to become one of your new favorites.
As the flawlessly balanced crunchy guitar scratching of the A-side's "Get Your Feet Off The Ground" teeters opposite the dazed and ethereal bedroom pop scuzz of the b-side's "Driving You Sad," this two-sider comes together to form an unreal, yet classic sound that's hard to shake. Not even close to being one of those "eh" singles from "another" band out of left field, this fine debut 7" will rob you of your resistance and clang out wonderfully in your fuzz-infected brain over and over again. It's got an indescribable appeal that careens around the classic outsider punk ethos and packs such an impressive wallop, that one can only hope the idyllic hits keep pouring forth.
Don't pass on this one, as it's in a pressing of only 500, so pick up a copy of the Idle Times debut 7" at Florida's Dying or direct from Woodsist HERE before it slips away. And if you find yourself as won over as we are, there's still time to get in line for their follow-up 7" single, "Million Miles Away" b/w "Whatever Works For You," available only through subscription in the Hozac Hookup Klub and not available in stores. Get on that right HERE before the subscriptions run out, and stay tuned as Idle Times reaches into the back of your mind and shakes the life out of you, one record at a time.
