Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes

Hype up the ying-yang with these guys. Pitchfork, NME, Rolling Stone — they all love Fleet Foxes. I saw these guys live in a little club in S.F. about a couple months before they hype machine really took off. My reaction at the time was basically, “Is the lead singer going to do the entire concert on a stool?” Nothing else stood out. The music was bland harmonies, devoid of any excitement.

As for their debut LP, Fleet Foxes blend a poppy concoction of ’60s folk harmonies and West Coast rock’n’roll a la the Beach Boys. Or some shit like that. They are CSNY without any substance. They lack testicles; this is Starbucks music. Check out Sun Kil Moon, instead, or The Tallest Man on Earth. Call me when the lead singer loses the stool and grows a set. Excuse me, I need to run over to Starbucks and pick up my soy latte and Norah Jones EP.