Amazing Baby
is an American band based in Brooklyn, NY, known more for their sense of fashion and connections to popular bands than for their musical talent. The band began as a collaboration between Will Roan and Simon O'Connor, a pair of Brooklyn-based musicians who happened to work at the same ring tone company. In January 2008, Roan and O'Connor posted their first songs on an Amazing Baby MySpace page, and almost immediately became the objects of intense media and music industry interest, especially in the UK. Even before Roan and O'Connor had formed a true band, they and some of the friends who had performed on their self-produced songs were being hyped as an acid-dropping, shroom-eating hippie cliché by such journals as NME. [1] While this publicity blitz did help the band get a recording contract from Shangri-La/Cooperative Music, it also inspired a minor backlash among some sectors of the music public even before the release of Amazing Baby's first album, Rewild, in June 2009. [2] With the release of their album, Amazing Baby commenced a two-year long world tour. The current members of the band are Will Roan, Simon O'Connor, Doc Laaxo, Matt Abeysekera and Don Devore.
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AMAZING BABY TICKETS
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Critical Reception
The band's debut LP Rewild has been mostly well received. The review survey website, metacritic.com, has scored the album at 68, which is solidly within the site's "generally positive review" category.
[3] Uncut called the album, "A frequently startling record of no little beauty – which threatens to launch a new, esoteric generation of Williamsburg wonders."
[4] The Spin reviewer wrote, "Channeling glam, metal, punk, power pop, and experimental noise, Rewild is like a tour through a psychedelic fantasyland, featuring visions, hallucinations, and glimpses of death. Roan coaxes with an almost deliriously euphoric art-rock swagger (see reggae jam "Roverfrenz" and infectious chant-along "Smoke Bros"), while O'Connor infuses every track with hedonistic energy. Amazing Baby are desperate to dazzle -- and they often do."
[5] Rolling Stone was ambivalent. Kevin O'Donnell, in the magazine's Rock & Roll Daily, called Rewild, "stunning,"
[6] while reviewer Christian Hoard wrote, "On their debut, the quintet spread the arty Cheez Whiz like MGMT and Yeasayer while bringing a stronger Sixties-pop influence, specifically with swirling keyboards with melodies that recall Love and the Dave Clark Five. "Roverfrenz," an airy synth fantasia with Animal Collective-ish percussion, gets by on neato textures instead of sharp tunes. In general, Rewild could use a little more of the latter, but who has time for that when you're knee-deep in giant guitars and weird ambient vocalizations?"
[7]
Discography
Albums
EPs
- Infinite Fucking Cross
(2008) (digital only)
Singles
- Pump yr Brakes
(2008)
- Bayonets
(2009)
- Headdress
(2009)
References
- [1]
- Matt Gonzales on popmatters.com
- [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/amazingbaby/rewild
- Mark Beaumont, Uncut
- Julia Yepes, Spin
- Kevin O'Donnell, Rolling Stone, Rock & Roll Daily
- Christian Hoard, Rolling Stone
- "Amazing Baby Album Details"