March 13, 2018 | 0 Comments

GOOD FIELD – SURFACE TENSION is at Top 200 Radio Now!!!!

My dear old pals from Austin, GOOD FIELD, are really killin’ it lately! This is their third record, and the second one I’ve worked (I missed the one in the middle), so some of you may remember this awesome band from past campaigns (whoa that one went for adds almost exactly 6 years ago! Ok I know not many of you have radio memories that long) or how bout that show I once put on where David Byrne showed up in a room of about 100 people (true story) or this other show I put on a year later that also featured their pal Ramesh from Voxtrot?! Anyway it doesn’t matter if you haven’t been following along with all that deep Band Mom history: in my totally unbiased humble opinion, this is their best work yet! Fuzzy psychy groovy guitar pop at its finest. Think War on Drugs x Yo La Tengo. Also fyi members of this band have had past associations with Brazos and White Denim and The Early Tapes. And they’re so good!!

It’s not often that I can say one of my bands has been on the NACC charts for every single week of its run, but so far (5 weeks in) that is the case!! After tying for #20 Most Added, it then climbed the NACC Top 200 to peak so far at #88! I’m totally pumped about this but I still think we can do even better, especially since their last record I worked peaked at #69 (nice) on CMJ, so that’s my number to beat—do you think we can hit it this week?? Let’s give it a try!!

good field album cover front

GOOD FIELD

SURFACE TENSION

Self-Released

“We don’t want to be famous, we just wanna stay right here. And that’s what makes us happy.” Sure, it’s a damned lie, but one told with a convincing poker face at the outset of “Ordinary People.”

On their third full-length release, though they’ll dismiss the first two as shoddy little home recordings, Good Field sounds like a band that’s found a comfortable number of beats per minute in which to weave their warm-toned, melodic pop with fuzzy guitar hooks. Confidence looks good on a band that does far too little of its own bell-ringing for any promoter’s taste. It doesn’t hurt when you have Jim Eno (Spoon, Father John Misty) at the sound board and James Petralli (White Denim) on hand to curate some of the rangy noise creatures hatched on the creative retreats where the band claims to do the bulk of its writing.

The creative process for Surface Tension was unique in the fact that it was written almost entirely on these retreats to remote cabins and ranches in West Texas. There’s not a hint of irony or rehashed hippie new ageism with this though, no yoga mats or hot stone massages. Plenty of weed, armadillos and San Saba sunsets, mixed with all-nighter recording sessions for Paul Price (guitar & vocals), Michael McLeod (bass), Esteban Cruz (drums), and Kyle Robertson (keys). All this to capture a simple melodic idea or groove to warehouse for later refinement.

The resulting album, Surface Tension, has as much sonic DNA in common with The Animals or Yo La Tengo as it does The War on Drugs or Deerhunter. In the way that it features simple, deep-voiced compositions with mostly live tracked rhythm sections (quarterbacked by Justin Douglas [Michael Jackson, Celine Dion], and mastered by Alex Wharton [Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine] at Abbey Road Studios), the record rounds the nostalgic bases, but with no winks to belie the passing gestures to the resin on Tom Petty’s roach clip.

“Most of the time, there’s a raw grit tapered with smooth hooks that recalls the best elements of the Strokes, but it’s undercut by a laid back groove that feels like Yo La Tengo. The fact that it’s such a nuanced blend of these kinds of bands keeps Good Field’s sound fresh and distinct.” – POP PRESS INTL

RIYL: Wilco, Midlake, Grizzly Bear, Brazos, Yo La Tengo, The War on Drugs, Deerhunter

Start With: 1, 6, 5, 9
FCC: 8 says “hot as hell” and “goddamn”; otherwise CLEAN