speed of dark

I picked up "Kissing Families" from Silversun Pickups' 2005 EP Pikul several months ago. I liked it, but it didn't particularly stand out from other music I was listening to at the time.

However, last Friday, NPR highlighted "Lazy Eye" from the Pickups' new album Carnavas as their Song of the Day. Dang, I thought, now that is interesting! The NPR article compares Silversun Pickups to early Smashing Pumpkins. Well now, I wouldn't have thought of that, but I can hear it. The plunking guitar in "Lazy Eye" is reminiscent of the Pumpkins' "1979," and the Pickups can go from quiet to full-throttle thrash on "Well Thought Out Twinkles" like the Pumpkins do in "Today" from Siamese Dream and "Siva" on their earlier Gish.

I don't know if Silversun Pickups will have the staying power that the Pumpkins had, but what they deliver on Carnavas is very, very satisfying. This is just doggone excellent rock music. The Pickups are definitely going on my list of Favorites of 2006. I just have to decide which song to choose, and it's going to be a tough decision. I have posted what I think are the best two candidates here.

By the way, my first rule for favorites of the year is that the songs must have been released during the current year. Lucky for me, "Well Thought Out Twinkles," although first released on the Pickups' 2003 Sunset Junction CD, was rereleased on Carnavas. That means it qualifies, and it just might be the one.

Well Thought Out Twinkles

Dream at Tempo 119

Other songs to check out by Silversun Pickups: Three Seed, Melatonin, Little Lover's So Polite, Kissing Families.

You can hear Lazy Eye at NPR Song of the Day and at Silversun Pickups at MySpace