My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Post-Punk, Alternative, Rock
The 1980’s were a fun time, with musical outfits such as U2, R.E.M., David Bowie, Michael Jackson, and Madonna dominating the scene. Alongside of that, the 1980’s were also heavily influenced with the emergence of synthpop and electronic music, with songs like this one right here. This was one of the best selling songs at the time, and it played a huge role in the constantly growing genre of electronic music during the 80’s. Now while all of this was going on, three dudes from Boston, Massachusetts decided to completely ditch the synthesizers and go with a style of music that was certainly not as popular as all the emerging synthpop, and I must commend them for this.
The Volcano Suns initially formed in 1984 after the break up of Mission of Burma in their already mentioned hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. For most of their early years, the band was a three piece consisting of Peter Prescott on drums, Jeff Weigand on bass guitar, and Jon Williams on guitar, with Prescott being the only member to remain in the band until it’s break up in 1991. This original three piece line-up would play together for the first two releases of the Volcano Suns discography – their debut in 1985, “The Bright Orange Years”, and 1986’s “All Night Lotus Party”.
Today I have their debut LP for you to listen and love, and love it you shall. The album is bursting with raw energy, with just about every song forcing you to somehow tap along and keep the beat, and at times while listening, I actually recall similarities to the band White Denim. The recording quality of the music also does wonders for their sound; that being said, I don’t think I would favor them as much if it was overproduced. If you have never heard these guys, please do yourself a favor and HEAR THEM. I was going to go through and name which songs stand out before the rest, but then I noticed I was just listing the tracklist from the album. Be sure to be on the lookout for more Volcano Suns in the near future.
The Bright Orange Years: Tracklist
1.) Jak
2.) Descent into Hell
3.) Truth is Stranger than Fishing
4.) Balancing Act
5.) Promise Me
6.) (I’m Gonna) Make You Mine
7.) Cover
8.) The Mouth that Roared
9.) Cornfield
10.) Animals
11.) It’s Stewtime
12.) Silvertone
Volcano Suns on Myspace
The Bright Orange Years (and more): BUY
Styrofoam Drone 