Birdmonster - No Midnight

I recently transplanted myself halfway across the United States of America. 1200 miles alone in a car can border on hell, regardless of its self-induced nature, or the fact that much of the time was spent babbling mindlessly on a cellphone. Of course, the mileage and late-night driving called for stimulating play on the stereo, and I found myself reaching for Birdmonster's debut more often than anything else that's been released this year. Having been given the title of "the worst-named band in San Francisco," Birdmonster has risen from DIY obscurity to being toasted by a legion of blogs and are now nesting with SpinART for an official release of No Midnight. Birdmonster's self-titled, three-song EP found an exorbitant amount of enthusiasm from major players in the mp3 blogosphere, drawing comparisons from Modest Mouse to Hot Water Music--two extremes which are valid but only in tiny amounts spread throughout the disc. On its first full-length, Birdmonster tear the pigeonhole a new asshole, plundering rock & roll's stinking corpse like the fat kids in candy shops analogy. No subgenres need apply, Birdmonster is a no-bullshit rock band...at times sounding like an early At the Drive-In with balls, or a melodious, less gritty Small Brown Bike--but then the fowl/beast hyrid swandives into an alternate dimension. Where "Balcony" lumbers around, flashing its slide guitar and flirting with alt-country, "'Cause You Can" is straight-forward with Peter Arcuni's manic, strained vocals roughing up the melody and changing directions without a second's notice. "Alabama," the album's other rampant and unconstrained tip of the hat to punk's relentless energy, finds Arcuni lyrically enigmatic--not that he isn't much of the time--but here his decisiveness seems split between an escape and telling New Orleans "you're gonna rise from the sea," all the while shouting over a throbbing bassline and wiry guitar antics. Twice does the band nod to the romp and stomp of folk punk, a la Against Me!, on "The Bar in the Back of the Basement" and "All the Wholes in the Walls." The title track is acoustic and brooding, pulling the band's twangy tendencies out yet again, but by song's end the direction takes a turn into double-time feel-good pop. Birdmonster's prowess lies in the ability to pull off a slew of styles while consistently just sounding like themselves, and reveling in unpredictability. Musical adventurists (read: elitists) beware, this isn't ultra-hipster avant garde garbage. New territory is rarely traversed, but Birdmonster forge on uninhibited. No Midnight is undoubtedly one of the year's most refreshing debuts, and above all, it's a lot of fun. [www.birdmonster.com]