III

#3
The Features – Exibit A

I found this band a while back and i have been fanatical ever since I heard the intro to this album. The Features hail from Tennessee and live in similar circles to the blues rock of the White Stripes and 22-20’s, only they have such a greater essence of fun and rhythm over buzzing guitar noise. As with all albums on this list its mega contagious! I love the vocals on this over most else tho, the singer has such a light distinctive voice which seems out of place in between the heavy riffs. This is alleviated with some echo and the bunnymen style organs which provide a more down to earth setting for his voice to shine.

‘Exhibit A’ the album curtain raiser and the following track ‘The way it’s meant to be’ have such a simple white stripes’esque riff and melds it together with plenty of ‘OOhhh’s’ and ‘Aahhhs’ to make super blues/pop monsters. Tracks such as “There’s a million ways to sing the blues’ and ‘Me and the Skirts’ bring life into the album which will have you hopping around all evening. In fact The Features have a lot to credit Weezer for, the track ‘Blow It Out’ could be straight off the Green album. This doesn’t stop this track from being utterly superb. As all good albums it has a beautiful ballad, and this time it’s ‘The idea of growing old’.

Even though the album does play quite a lot on the same theme, the vocals keep the interest till the end. This is definitely my best new band of the year and the fully deserve the 3rd place for producing a great fun album from beginning to end. Not Quite The Favourite Track:The Idea Of Growing Old