Best Coast: The Only Place (Free MP3) LP Best Coast

I feel biased writing about this. Being from the Golden State, I’m an easy target for singer Bethany
Cosentino and guitar Bob Bruno’s good-time anthems. With a strength in simplicity, and building
on what the two started with on their debut, Crazy for You, the duo don’t strive much newness here,
and that’s perfectly fine. The Only Place confronts a direction often mishandled, one that can lead to
not-much-more than generic deviation, been there heard that. But with Cosentino’s passion for the
basics, this works. Her odes to California, to hanging out, all juvenile and sweet, somehow escape the
doldrums of pop music’s incessant repeating of itself. I think it’s in their comfortability with what they
are, that it escape irony or convention. Anyhow, and more importantly, it’s an album full to the brim of
melodies that you’ll find yourself humming. These are songs built on basic structures, Bruno’s guitar
hooks, bopping along drums and basslines, earnest vocal sing-alongs. Highlights include ‰ÛÏNo One Like
You”, “Let’s Go Home”, sounds that almost conjure up a Spingsteen-inspired band playing at your
imaginary college party, some strange but earnest combination of 90s indie rock and Beach Boys era surf-
pop. It may all sound too cheeky at first glance, but give it a good listen on a hot summer’s day and try
to tell me it isn’t exactly what you needed. Recommended, and beyond seasonally; a fundamentally fun
record.

• music label: Mexican Summer 2012

reviewed by A.Tomorrow 07/2012