Jinx

Absolutely marvelous! Dreamrock with lots of fuzzy guitars. It's hard for me to describe music on any other level than how it affects me emotionally...and this album does it well. It just feels good to listen to their music. This isn't the best review but I strongly encourage you to give this album a listen. Highly recommended.

One of my new favorite CD's right now. Very unique sound and tempo of the music is intoxicating. Love it!

Such a great album.

I absolutely love this album! Very moody, very beautiful.

Liked it on the first listen. After a few listens, it loses it's charm, is too quiet, and does not hold up as well as all the other new wave revival and shoegaze bands.

2nd album from Brooklyn via San Francisco trio--haunted, aggressive, trebly pop music in bed with a bunch of noisy angels. There's an airy, almost ethereal, jangle in the songs that's lovingly pummeled by stark, high-end shoegaze distortion. Sweet melodies and ringing guitar notes are blasted by reverb, volume & feedback. The band calls it "volatile, cathartic, bittersweet". I call it peculiar and appealing, sort of like everything is covered with a muddled manna sheen. "Jinx" may not have the same kind of immediate raw charm that 2009's "Sports" had, but the odd textures, propulsive flow and powerful hooks have my attention. At times, it reminds me of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division, Palma Violets--but it really sounds nothing like any of them. This is music with an addictive pop appeal and no safety net. You can hum, but you can't hide.

This San Francisco trio, now in Brooklyn, started out noisier with an album I loved, Sports, in 2010. They toured with the Kills and with Wire, and their post-punk take conveyed verve, cogency, and talent. Familiar as it seemed to fans such as myself from templates thirty-odd years ago, it satisfied. Honed and confident, it connected. The Red e.p. in 2011 proved somewhat smoother, foreshadowing the unruffled tone of Jinx now."Mirror" opens with calm, nearly New Romantic gauziness, shifts into Krautrock, and then cruises into a melody reminiscent of "The Forest" by The Cure before bassist Shaun Durkan's vocals enter "I feel sick, sick, in my heart" he avers, over and over. However, the light tone of this belies the sentiment, echoed over Kevin Johnson's guitar, heavy with effects. Abe Pedroza's drums provide solid support, if in a very early 1980s manner.Picking up the pace with a rattling "July" shows off the band's shimmering textures. The downloaded MP3 file provided feels fragile and tinny, but I suppose this production is intentional. Headphones help to plunge you into the sonic sludge, sweetening the mix with burbles and hiss. This nestles into the Slumberland Records label's affection for British-inspired sounds from three-plus decades ago.As with its labelmates, Weekend thrives on recreating its influences, and having fun despite edging into gloom or at least a wallflower's pose at the night out. "Oubliette" stays consistent, and it jangles in a fashion that churns under the mix, which tries to bury its melody under a wave of distortion. Durkan's voice, while not immediately distinctive, matches the understated feel of his bandmates' music, set on creating a mood--tuneful, but not too poppy despite the frothy surface over the murk.Durkan sings in a phrasing neither West nor East Coast. Underneath the swirl, a listener may struggle to discern his accent's origins. The geographical specificity suggested by the title "Celebration, FL" fails to define the distant, forlorn presence, recalling New Order, of the guitar patterns arching over this solemn fourth track. "I want to fade away" repeats over a severe drum beat, hacking away at air.Similar to the first song, "Sirens" begins with a motorik rhythm. The soundstage looms larger, full of mild menace, suiting the title. "Adelaide" proves the loudest song so far, with a more insistent beat. Johnson's bass hums along, although the results seem a bit slight compared to the previous density.However, Weekend can craft catchy songs, and while lyrics often get subsumed beneath the layers of reverberation, this might not detract from the trio's intent to focus on the overall effect of chiming riffs over waves of darker shades beneath the vocals, which hover between optimism and pessimism. "I want to save you from the world," promises Durkan on "Adelaide".My Bloody Valentine felt sure to linger, and it arrived via "It's Alright" with its hesitant drums rat-a-tat as the guitars stretched out in slow arcs over a grumbling bass. On cue, the background vocals signaled a struggle to advance through the sludge towards beauty. It's not original, but it's a worthy tribute, as this album is itself, to the impact of Weekend's forebears upon today's admirers.Each song stays short. Their first album clocked ten compact tracks, and so does this second full-length recording--full remaining a relative term for the wise brevity of Jinx. "Rosaries" sustains the album's quality of consistency, while each song contributes a different mood, subtle yet evident. This turns the nearly wordless vocal backing into a loop, to enhance the circular image of a rosary.After this, an ominous "Scream Queen" rustles beneath a more industrial opening, before it lurches into a count-off, chanted chorus by Durkan that reaches out of Pedroza's clatter while tethered to Johnson's effects-laden guitar. Durkan paces his bass well here, to let the sinister play off the perky.Ending this tidy, direct album, "Just Drive" starts off with a confident, hard rocking pound, less evasive than what has preceded it. Guitars here alternate between a drill and a delayed riff, accentuating the by-now typical match of a harsher edge with a smoother delivery that Weekend appears to be perfecting by this stage in their career.While this may delight those already devoted to the trio's predecessors, it deserves a hearing by newer listeners finding out about New Order, The Cure, Joy Division, or My Bloody Valentine for the first (or hundredth) time. Weekend follows in venerable footsteps. Jinx advances the progress evident already in Red and Sports, and avoids whatever sophomore slump its title may suggest.

Not my bag was looking for the Group Weeknd but Library sent me this just not my cup of tea.

This is a great listen...a mix of their first release Sports and the Red ep....its a slow burner so give it a chance.Post punk and shoe gaze lovers will enjoy this with hints of The Horrors and Jesus and Mary chain and Ride.....cant wait to see the San Fransisco foursome in London soon.;)

MÁS INDIE QUE SHOEGAZE, PERO MOLAN.Weekend ‎– JinxSello: Slumberland Records ‎– SLR 183Formato: 2 Vinilos, LP, 45 RPM, Edición limitada, amarillo fosforito transparente.País: EEUUFecha: 2013A1 MirrorA2 JulyB1 OublietteB2 Celebration, FLB3 SirensC1 AdelaideC2 It's AlrightC3 RosariesD1 Scream QueenD2 Just DriveFundas interiores con letras, póster y código de descarga.

secondo album per i Weekend,dopo il primo rumoroso noise "Sport" ritornano con un album più levigato ma non per questo meno interessante; i suoni sono di matrice sicuramente tra noise e psycho rock con influenze Wave; "Jinx" è un album che merita attenzione nell'ascolto,un disco che maturerà con il tempo e che puo' dare parecchie soddisfazioni.Un grande ritorno