COLORBEARER OF ATHENS, GEORGIA LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1987
July 18, 2012

Beach Day

w/ The Rodney Kings, Koko Beware

Beach Day

Beach Day

With an official catalog that basically only consists of a newly released 7-inch single ("Get It Out of Your Head"), you may not be hip to Beach Day just yet. But chances are, you’ll soon be hearing much more about this young south Florida band; its stars are aligning in a way that suggests serious breakout potential.

First off, and most importantly, this band is good. And not just on record, either—it's the real McCoy live, too. Secondly, the cultural timing couldn’t be better for Beach Day's garage-minded, girl-group sound. The classic pop purity of the 1950s and ‘60s is white-hot right now, and a whole nü-wop generation has virtually taken over the indie world.

Look at the number of prominent indie-poppers tearing it up out there: Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, Best Coast, Tennis, Cults, Seapony... the list goes on. While the abundance of these groups means the field is crowded, it also means a hip, sizable audience is already in place.

And Beach Day just so happens to be flat-out better than most of its contemporaries, thanks largely to the effortless, razor-sharp songwriting of frontwoman Kimmy Drake, whose commanding marquee voice somewhat resembles a punk-rock Ronnie Spector. (For proof of the band's natural ability, witness its live set list, which seriously plays like an unbroken chain of singles.)

But the key element that may just make these three Sunshine State kids an honest-to-God success story is that they were signed recently to tastemaking Brooklyn indie imprint Kanine Records—the very label that broke fellow Floridian phenom Surfer Blood.

Indeed, if there’s any indie group out there that’s ready to pop, it’s Beach Day. Wednesday's bill, which also includes local jangle-trash groups Koko Beware and The Rodney Kings, is sure to make for a busted beach party to remember.

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