Straight outta Brighton: The Kooks
Following fast in the relative footsteps of groups like The Coral, whom I quite liked from last summer, The Kooks are 4 young guys from scenic beachtown of Brighton, England. My friend Chris from Manchester included them on a recent mix for me and they caught my ear.
Sportin’ that same fancy-pants accent that regularly propels British bands (especially ones whose names start with “The” lately) to moderate success stateside, The Kooks are fun jump-around listening for summer, with a bit more acoustic pop sound than some of the punk/new-wave bands preceding them of late. Pitchfork likens them to “the straightforward dynamism of I Should Coco-era Supergrass,” and Drowned in Sound says, “What they do is take girls and seaside and . . . well, that’s all you need really isn’t it?”
Their debut album Inside In/Inside Out has reached #3 on the UK charts (and doesn’t appear to be released yet in the US). Take a listen, I am sure you’ll be hearing more from these boys ’round these parts; they’re in the news today as the Rolling Stones just tapped them to open their Cardiff show.
Naive – The Kooks
Sofa Song – The Kooks
California – The Kooks (Wow! A Mason Jennings cover! Better than the original? It’s a song that wants to rock)
“Crazy“ - The Kooks (Gnarls Barkley cover, Live Lounge 3/30/06)
Name: Heather Browne
They’re not bad at all. I was expecting them to be like the Strokes or Franz Ferdinand but they sound different to me. I’ll be watching for them.
Gamer C. — June 17, 2006 @ 4:39 pm
Did you know “California” is a Mason Jennings cover?
havlik3030 — June 17, 2006 @ 10:12 pm
they do sound alright . . . unnecessary use of whom.
Anonymous — June 17, 2006 @ 11:28 pm
I do now! I found that/posted it up after listening to the first few bars before heading out for the evening, so I hadn’t realized. Rad.
heather — June 17, 2006 @ 11:49 pm
They’ve really broken into the mainstream over the last 6 months here but I’m still thinking they only have two good songs – Naive and Eddie’s Gun. Maybe I’m being silly.
Mr k — June 18, 2006 @ 4:37 am
H
Thanks for the name check.
Glad you liked The Kooks, I disagree with Mr K – try ‘ooh la’ and ‘she moves in her own way’ both good summery pop.
Chris from Tottington
Anonymous — June 18, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
i really dug the album, esp since Eddie’s Gun is probably one of the singles of the year (even though it was out last year in Britain) in my books. Thanks for California!
Australiandave — June 20, 2006 @ 4:20 pm
i love the kooks and have been a fan for ever!!!!!!if u r still not in to them much listen to ‘matchbox’ and ‘timr awaits’, absolutley brilliant tracks!
Anonymous — July 25, 2006 @ 1:58 pm