Review: Geronimo! – Fuzzy Dreams

April 28th, 2010 by Oswald Hobbes / Comment on this post

Geronimo!’s bio tells me they’re from Rockford, Il. This somewhat surprised me, as I’ve been to Rockford, and it was my impression that nothing good could grow in that toxic soil. I went to a Motley Crue concert there, and it was the first time I’ve been thoroughly patted down before a show since, I don’t know, 1998? They have a restaurant called the Machine Shed there, where you can get, no joke, a plate of meat scraps. Just a bunch of odds and ends, with potatoes on the side. Pretty gnarly, right? Geronimo! is gnarlier. Aside from the exclamation point in their name, I can’t think of anything I don’t like them about them.

They’re a three piece, but they sound much bigger. Especially when they crank it up -- songs like “Design Yourself A Heart” and “Judgement Day” start as nice, angular pop songs and then explode with the ecstatic fury of dudes playing absolutely as hard as they can. The basic sound is math-y indie rock with lyrics that are shouted and yelped as often as they’re sung, but Fuzzy Dreams is way better than that description implies. There are three tracks that clock in at over seven minutes, and these are generally the best ones; Geronimo! display a real sense of adventure, branching off into elaborately arranged tangents that don’t advance the songs so much as elevate them, and you can almost hear the band sweating. That’s a compliment.

It actually makes sense that these guys hail from a vast wasteland like Rockford -- you don’t develop these kind of chops hanging out and looking cool. The Geronimo! boys (Ben Grigg, Matt Schwerin, and KJ Blaze) have done the obvious time studying at the feet of the masters, and then also more time (obviously) practicing their instruments, and they’ve arrived at the unique, charmingly handmade sound that drives Fuzzy Dreams. And all that time was well-spent, because this record kills. From the vaguely menacing white noise that begins the album to the gloriously fucked-up blast of jazzy skronk that ends it, there’s not a dull moment here -- every time you get a little nervous about a song with four minutes left to go, the dudes hit you with another blast of crashing drums and chromey guitar fills, destroying any sense of “time” and “space.” Have you ever heard a hole being torn in the fabric of existence? Pick up Fuzzy Dreams and you will, a few times over. It’s real hot shit.

(We’ll have more information about it tomorrow in Assault The Weekend!, but these guys are playing a show at Schubas on Friday with one of our other favorite bands, Kid, You’ll Move Mountains. It’s Geronimo!’s record release show, and I strongly suggest you head out and pick up a copy of Fuzzy Dreams. You will not be disappointed.)