| · Still criminally underrated.
Up from the ashes of the brutally under-appreciated Bedhead (their Calgary gig several years ago at the Republik was so scarcely populated it was almost tragic – granted, I wasn't there either, but I rue that misstep on my part almost daily), the Kadane brothers' outfit The New Year seems set to follow down the same obscure steps.
Taking their cues from the all rhythm guitar propulsion of the Velvet Underground (we all know how they were ignored the first time around too), the Kadanes have long wrapped the subtlest of whispered rock hooks within the most hypnotic indie guitar lines. While The New Year's focus has shifted slightly to somewhat more pop-based song structures (the brothers' vocals pushed up towards the forefront over the course of each release), the old Bedhead magic is still there on the tricky "Chinese Handcuffs," the slow-building "The End's Not Near (it's already here)" and the perfectly executed long-form Built To Spill-style climax of "18." "Disease," in particular, could have come directly off Bedhead's swansong, the translucent Transaction de Novo – starting skeletal, it soon blossoms into waves of repetitive strum.
It's rare to find an artist who stays so interesting through changing so little. It's rarer still to find a group of them with whom you wouldn't want it any other way.
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