Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health (2009)

According to Wikipedia, the Harlem Shake is a type of dance that dates back to the early 80’s but became mainstream in 2001 when rapper G-Dep had it featured in the video for “Let’s Get It”. Now, the band the Harlem Shakes are actually NOT from Harlem. These pricks are from Brooklyn. But it has come to my understanding that they are big fans of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and the entire Badboy roster, hence the reference to the G-Dep video. These facts have been checked and double-checked. Anyway, the Shakes bursted into Indie Consciousness around 2007 with the release of a fun little EP called Burning Birthdays. Their addictive garage pop led them to be compared to everyone from The Strokes to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (due to the frontman’s yelpie singing). Since then, they’ve spent a lot of time touring with every buzz band you can think of (Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys just to name two) before eventually heading to the studio to record their proper debut full-length with New York producer extraordinaire Chris Zane (Les Savy Fav, The Walkmen, Asobi Seksu). Hopefully all of this insane name-droppage improves my traffic. YEAH!

Technicolor Health starts off on a really optimistic note that pretty much sets the tone for the whole record. Opener “Nothing But Change II” obviously refers to upcoming changes (in OBAMERICA) while the chorus for “Strictly Game” goes “This will be a better year!” Given the recent political happenings in the US, you can’t help but make instant links to the promising new administration and Obamarama. Beyond the optimistic lyrical content, the music itself is quite uplifting too. The songs are really well produced and offer a sparkling mix of jangly guitars, bubbly keyboards, various percussions, catchy horns and a truckload of doo-wop-inspired harmonies. Some of the songs on this debut are a little less immediate than the ones from their ’07 EP, but all of them are a lot more fleshed out. Some brand new classic rock influences have crept into the mix and the singing even recalls young Bob Dylan/old-school Americana in places. The lyrics are also surprisingly enjoyable throughout. I rarely pay much attention to the lyrical content of my 2009 INDIE POP ALBUMS, but there are some real gems spread throughout.

The New Pornographers is one band that definitely springs to mind when going through the album’s massive amount of hooks, harmonies and synth-laden melodies. Like AC Newman and the Justice League of Canada, the Shakes are quite adept at writing enjoyable pop songs with great choruses. Seriously, these songs will be stuck in your head for a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if “Sunlight” ended up in some sort of iPod ad before the end of the year because that thing is catchy as all hell. “Winter Water” also delivers the goods, both in terms of monstrous choruses and clever lyrics. Meanwhile, “Natural Man” builds up on energetic percussions and guitar strumming before exploding into an epic finale where the whole band really goes for broke. What I’m getting at here, is that there’s not a bad track on this album. Technicolor Health is pretty much the perfect title for this colourful collection of vibrant pop songs.

The Harlem Shakes have got the ideal sound to be this year’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Voxtrot or Tapes n’ Tapes; the infamous Blog Band of 2009. Luckily for them, their songs have enough depth to survive any potential hypestorm. Hopefully they get the push they deserve, because this album is really good stuff.

8/10