The 63 Crayons – Spoils For Survivors
The 63 Crayons are yet another group for whom I am indebted to Rich over at Cable & Tweed. I bought their new album Spoils For Survivors a good few weeks ago and it has taken a little time to sink in properly. This weekend I’ve played it all the way through about three or four times over and it has finally dawned on me what an excellent record it is.
Imagine if Kasabian had a bit more indie moodiness in their music instead of adolescent tantrums, and actually wrote songs with their brains instead of their dicks and you are getting there. The 63 Crayons underpin their scratchy indie with a tense electronic beat – most successfully on the excellent Forget the War, Let’s Go Shopping. The vocals are often distant and distorted, but this gives them a haunted atmosphere at times which I love.
Ultimately, they build these slightly brooding, mechanical songs that drive along from one subtle shift to the next, creating slowly-emerging but superbly insidious tunes with all the rough edges that makes music really grip you.
Spoils For Survivors may fade a little towards the end, but it’s only a little. All in all, this is excellent, but make sure you give it a chance as it may not be obvious the first couple of times through. It’s available through their website, which is to be found here.
The 63 Crayons -Â Devils
The 63 Crayons – Spoils For Survivors
Their previous album was a lot more poppy. I spoke to the drummer recently and he said they’re really enthused about moving in more of a psych direction.
I like it too. Poppy is everywhere, but this kind of electro-indie crossover is pretty rarely this well executed. It’s common enough I guess, but most of it is shit. This album, though, is superb.
They can be a bit like the early Stranglers at times.