If it’s not Detroit in the oughts, it’s definitely NYC. From The Strokes to Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, plenty o’quality is squirming outta the Big Apple. Kanine Records has featured twenty pending superstars in waiting on their new compilation, NY: The Next Wave. Running the gamut of band types and sounds, this new comp features standout tracks by Sea Ray (a sort of heartfelt downtempo Britpop vibe), Elefant (the next Interpol, anyone?), and the heavily-buzzing indie songsmithery of Stellastar*. Perhaps the hookiest track on the album, however, is by what seems to be the NYC Donnas, The Boxes. This all-girl (The Boxes? Arf!) quartet rip through their offering “Boyz N Camaros,” frontwoman Kate Perrotti extolling the virtues of the wondrous New Jersey/Bakersfield vehicle of choice (”all the boys I like, they drive Camaros”), all the while sounding like a punked up and throatier version of Belinda Carlisle at her Go-Gos height. A lot of the current crop of NYC bands’ influences are felt (Radio 4, Liars, Strokes) but there is a lot of interesting new material included as well. The peeps in the City That Never Sleeps have been putting themselves to good use, it sounds.
JEREMY P. GOLDSTEIN
