Abe Vigoda - 'Skeletons' (Bella Union) Released 06/10/08

To many Los Angeles, the city of angels, is a town full of preconceptions and stereotypes. Chiefly forty year old women injecting and implanting their way back in time, being served by a wannabe actor in a restaurant run by a man who gave up the Hollywood dream years ago. It seems, from the outside at least, to be a place where the American dream died and was replaced by the get famous quick world we live in today. However its spawned an underbelly, a musical hub and it’s a thousand miles from the seedy bars that spawned Guns ‘N’ Roses in the 80’s. The Smell is an all ages club where some of this years most innovative and barrier pushing bands have cut their formative teeth. No Age brought the initial attention with ‘Nouns’ then came Mika Miko and Abe Vigoda. The latter have proved to be the crown in The Smells crown and look to capitalise on it with their first full length album ‘Skeleton’.

Many have described Abe Vigoda's sound as ‘Tropical Punk’ which the band themselves, in a rare move, have actually agreed on as a moniker. Comparisons to Vampire Weekend however are at best tenuous. They both share a sense of off kilter rhythms and world influences but whilst Ezra Koenig et al are a breezy pop behemoth Abe Vigoda are much more impenetrable, obtuse and complex. Initial listens to ‘Skeleton’ may leave listeners perplexed and head scathingly under whelmed- this is not an album for the feint hearted.

‘Dead City/ Wasted Wilderness’ is a riotous beginning with galloping beats and rattling guitars. ‘Bear Face’ is as immediate as Abe Vigoda get boasting their most straight forward structure and chorus whilst ‘Cranes’ really takes things up a gear, taking all the elements of the band and increasing the heat. Its no ‘Rein In Blood’ but the layering of guitars, drums and the dense clatter they create takes some adjusting to. The hooks and melodies tease and play hard to get, they draw you in and lead you to others but you have to work to get there.

Abe Vigoda are a curveball of quirkily epic proportions, and whilst ‘Skeleton’ might not be for the casual listener it will truly lavish reward on the persistent.