This Mississippi trio might look like low-expectation slackers, but their music offers glimpses of a band with ambition
Hometown: Oxford, Mississippi.
The lineup: Jim Barrett, Ben Yarbrough and Alex Von Hardberger.
The background: Young Buffalo come from Oxford, Mississippi, but they could just as easily have come from Oxford, England. They could be part of that new-ish Blessing Force scene. Rather than sounding American, they recall one of those British bands from 2007-8 who merged indie jangle with the tempos and textures of Afrobeat. We can't remember any of their names but we're sure they were good. Young Buffalo are so young ? the trio are aged between 19 and 21 ? they probably think they're reviving some ancient, lost art. The exuberant unison vocals, the trebly percussiveness without too much low-end bass whomp, the whoa-oh-ohs ? they're all here. Welcome to the late-noughties revival.
You should know that some people round these parts laughed their socks off when they first saw the above picture of Young Buffalo. True enough, they will probably never win any awards for glamour, but neither did the Pixies, whose pop-rockier moments Young Buffalo occasionally recall (and neither, before you say anything, will the New Band of the Day writer, although he did once get compared to David Sylvian ? or was it Sylvain Sylvain ? when he had hair). There is something almost quintessentially indie and shabby about them, as though they can't really be bothered to appeal to a bigger audience because they'd rather sit on that sofa and eat chips. So when we saw a performance of one of their songs, New Beat, on YouTube, in which they play, not to the proverbial three men and a dog, but just a dog, we had to laugh ourselves.
And yet they're not just low-expectation slackers. Yes, they have annoyingly false-modest goals ? they want to "make good music", apparently, oh and "not be doosh-like" ? but their music, some of it anyway, offers glimpses of a band with ambition. Catapilah, their debut single, features some impressively fast guitar strumming before exploding into a joyous noise-pop chorus. That's easily their best song, though, because by New Beat they lose their lightness of touch and it all gets a bit ponderous, the Sting-like "oh-oh"s starting to seriously grate. Then there's Three Deep, which is thrash-lite, with shades of Vampire Weekend jamming with Pantera, and despite building an anthemic head of steam towards the end, it lacks purpose. Still, if they can capitalise on Catapilah, they should do well. They might even get their lazy arses off that couch and play with the dog.
The buzz: "A bit like something Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) would conjure up [if] he lost the will for Americana and picked up a few notes from Sting, or Fela Kuti even" ? Iguessimfloating.net.
The truth: Lowe and Lamacq love 'em, but then they would.
Most likely to: Appeal to canines.
Least likely to: Write a rallying cry for a new civil rights movement.
What to buy: Their debut 7in vinyl, Catapilah, is released on 14 February by Young & Lost Club.
File next to: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Vampire Weekend, Local Natives, Mystery Jets.
Links: myspace.com/youngbuffalo.
Monday's new band: Hayvlanlar Alemi.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/28/new-band-young-buffalo
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