The Sounds - Living in America

The Sounds are Blondie for a new generation. I don't know if they set out hoping to become Blondie or if the sum of the band's parts dictated that they must be Blondie, but Blondie they are. Oh, and also Blondie. From this point onward, I will cease with the Blondie references.

The Sounds take an old school new wave sound and marry it to a modern Swede-punk sound (think Hives, Sahara Hotnights, etc.). At times they sound like they just as well could have been from the late 70's as the early 00's. Their songs are a pulsing perpetual motion of highly danceable retro rock. I know I have mentioned albums before that have absolutely no filler, and the sentiment gets a little less meaningful over time. Even so, this album has 0% body fat. A friend of mine listened to this album and nothing else on a 6 hour drive to Coachella. Living in America is just a superb album that hearkens back to a certain similar band from the late 70's that was also fronted by a flaxen-haired bombshell.