When I went to San Francisco on my honeymoon early last summer, I never thought that I would end up falling in love with a band at the most romantic time of my life, but that is what happened (as well as my realization that my wife really does “get” me). After a strong recommendation from the gentleman at Amoeba Music, I not only picked up Constantines‘ [Myspace] Kensington Heights, which came out last April on Arts and Crafts, but I was able to get her to check out the whole album – and she liked it (sort of). She liked it better than Does It Offend You, Yeah, which was the other choice at that very moment.

There is a trashy vibrance about their sound; they strangle the chords with precision, then resuscitate it with such panache. Seriously awesome, straightforward rock. This video dropped a few weeks before the Holiday season and the while there is very little of the band in the clip, it’s representative of the dirty, nasty rocking-time-fun that the band stands for. Hooray!

Check out the music video for “Credit River” “after the jump”

“Credit River” [mp3]

Founded in Guelph, Ontario, in 1999, the Constantines now live in Toronto and that first record of theirs landed them a Juno Awards‘ nomination for Best Alternative Album. As well, the album very nearly broke the record for longest charting album in Canadian campus radio history and placed (10th and 4th, respectively) on the year-end top ten lists for both the Exclaim! readers’ poll and the Eye national critics’ poll (Canada’s answer to the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop). While the record was only very barely available here in the U.S., those that went to the trouble of tracking it down were suitably impressed.

This from Magnet magazine: “[The Constantines] work the great miracle of rock ‘n’ roll: Kill it, then bring it back to life. This is important.”

Last 5 posts by Shawn M. Smith

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