Phil Spector, if he weren’t a raving lunatic, would be proud. That “wall of sound” that he engineered, that he mastered with the Ronnettes, is making a major come back. And, if he weren’t absolutely fucking insane, I’m sure he would be pleased to see how it has evolved in indie pop.
Cults is the newest in a long line of bands that are appropriating the Spector style. They, like the Dum Dum Girls and the Vivian Girls, add an extra garage rock tinge to the classic retro sound and, like the others, are spectacular. Their first release, a 7” off Forest Family Records called Go Outside, is setting the music world on fire. With a mix of melodic sweetness and jangly bite, it is no small wonder why; they accomplish a magnificent and rare feat: offering something new while incorporating old.
Perhaps another reason people are so interested in them is that they are shrouded in mystery. Apart from their BandCamp page, which offers little information, there is nothing else available online. No Myspace, no Facebook, just a lot of articles saying, “hey look at this great band we know nothing about.”
What we do know: they are a couple, Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin, they are film students in New York, they are from San Diego, based in Brooklyn and they put up the music on BandCamp for the amusement of their friends. Granted, within months their “friends” turned into tens of thousand of strangers, but I have a feeling that they aren’t complaining. In fact, all that attention from people who aren’t their friends got them a deal with Columbia Records, a tour with Maps & Atlases and a spot at the Fun Fun Fun and #Offline festivals.
While it doesn’t look like they are touring anytime soon, they are working on a full-length and will be one of the most talked about bands at SXSW in Austin. If you want to listen to the Cults, you can go to their BandCamp page to download the record for free, or you can shell out some money for a second pressing of the super limited 7” on Forest Family Records. The Phil Spector fan in you demands it.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- It’s Cults, not CULTS
- Cults will be in Austin for SXSW
- Cults is going on tour in Europe in February of 2011, will play a show with Yuck at Bush Hall, as well as their own shows at The Lexington, Madame JoJo’s
- Cults is coming back to the States and will play Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia on March 26 with Asobi Seksu
PITCHFORK INTERVIEW
Pitchfork: How did Cults start?
Brian Oblivion: We were just making music in our house in our free time. Neither of us have ever been in serious bands before. Actually, Madeline had a record contract when she was nine years old.
Madeline Follin: Yeah, it was pretty funny. My stepdad’s band was recording, and I just got on the mic. He had me cover “Amoeba” by the Adolescents, and some record company offered to sign me, but my parents wouldn’t let me. In the song and another song I had recorded, it said something about me drinking gin or something; it was really funny. I had a chipmunk voice singing punk rock songs at nine years old.
BO: The band was called Youth Gone Mad. But that’s the extent of it thus far. Doing music together really just kind of came out of living together and dating. I would make tracks and try to sing on them. Eventually, I realized that Maddy was a lot better at it than I was, and we started writing songs together.
Pitchfork: I just looked up Youth Gone Mad on iTunes. Did you do a record with Dee Dee Ramone?
MF: [Laughs] Yeah, I did. Dee Dee was friends with my stepdad and my mom. My mom was his art dealer. He was a nice guy.
BO: She was obviously really young when…
MF: Yeah, I was super young. I was probably only 12 when he passed away. But yeah, he would come over and record all the time.
Pitchfork: I know you weren’t expecting to get any kind of attention this early, but do you have any plans for Cults? Are you going to play any shows or release any music?
BO: Yeah, we’re finishing up a full-length record right now. We’ve been working on it for a while. The first three songs were just part of a larger full-length that we were working on for a long time. But we’re making plans to tour this summer and just kind of seeing where this could take us.
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