As will become apparent throughout the course of these reviews, I pay very little attention to what actually happens in Brooklyn, NY. It’s a fine place. I visited there a couple of summers ago and hung out with some friends of mine. But, I swear, there are at least eighty bands coming out of there everyday. One to ten of those bands will a) actually be good and b) make more than one album (this is assuming that they make an album at all because albums are so gauche). If I seem cynical, it’s because Brooklyn burns me left and right with bands. I point to The Rapture as the first of many examples. Yea, you remember them? If so, case in point. Moving on, this leads me to say that I was more than skeptical about listening to Xray Eyeballs’s debut album Not Nothing.

It came with all of the hallmarks of a lot of other Brooklyn albums that I see: references to people that I’m supposed to know but don’t (OJ San Felipe), bands that I’m supposed to care about but don’t (Golden Triangle), and a lo-fi recording aesthetic. My verdict on this one is that it’s a grower. I hated this album the first time that I listened to it. I thought it was derivative and just generally sucked. The second time I listened to it, let’s say the conditions were considerably more favorable for listening to it as it was dark and raining hard. On that day, I got what was going on a lot more. It’s like when you listen to Night Drive. If you listen to it before the sun has fully set, it doesn’t make any sense as it’s a bit gloomy and just doesn’t seem right. As soon as it’s dark and the florescent lights illuminate the sky, the entire album makes sense and is a perfect listen. This album works much in that same way.

Rather than dabbling in Italo Disco like Chromatics did, Xray Eyeballs are working in that territory that seemingly every new band is working in now: lo-fi garage/surf/punk/psych rock. They make some alterations to help themselves stand out and make the bored hipsters sway like a weeping willow in a light summer breeze. There are songs like “Po’ Jam,” which is more like a Gun Club track than anything by their contemporaries. Balance this with “Drums Not Dead,” which sounds like something from an early new wave album (think early cure, in that style). While the band does mix up their sound, this is, inevitably, what ends up hurting the album. There are too many sounds on the album. There are the above mentioned songs, slow garage rock tracks, then faster punk-style songs towards the end.

If the album sounded more like its second half (this is where all of the faster tracks are) than its first half, I think that it would have been a considerably stronger album. That being said, I think it’s still a decent album. I just can’t, in good faith, give it an enthusiastic recommendation to everyone. If you like scuzzed out rock and roll like The Gun Club or Pussy Galore or listen to the Back from the Grave comps, you should check this album out. If you like solidi melodies and high quality recording, you might want to sit on your hands for a spell.

If you don’t know which group you fall into, I’ve posted the video for “Crystal” below.