DO IT CLEAN
So you think you know Best Coast? Based on its well-received debut album with its fuzzy, low-fidelity sound in the vein of surf rock you would be surprised that by and large the duo (Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno) eschews the overdriven guitar agenda in favor of a cleaner approach.
What this does is highlight the melodies and Cosentino’s plaintive vocals and also recall strongly the UK indie (jamgle) pop of the 80s (in particular the so-called C86 movement), for instance, the early Primal Scream, The Pastels and The Wedding Present. Highly influenced by 60s girl-pop, the C86 movement would in turn spawn the likes of Camera Obscura and Belle & Sebastian and a straight line can be easily drawn from that era to bands like Summer Twins, Cults and of course, Best Coast.
In the final analysis, fact of the matter is that if you’ve had the privilege to listen to the original Spector-produced girl group pop as well as the UK indie pop of the 80s, bands like Best Coast come across highly derivative and apart from the fact that they are fairly adept at updating that classic sound (ever so slightly I guess), there is very little appeal going on here. For hipsters only.
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