Javelin Redeemed

I had the pleasure of seeing Javelin at the end of last week, for the second time. The first time I saw them, they opened for The Very Best at Great Scott in Boston and were, in a word, forgettable. So much so that Zack and I continued enjoying our Guinesses at the bar rather than making our way toward the stage to watch the show. The sound was a muddled mess, the vocals were off, and it was a generally disappointing set from a band whose EP had been spinning on my stereo for quite some time.

Call it a bad night. Or call it an evolution. Or call it my fault. However you want to label it, the fact of the matter is that last November's show is a thing of the past, a distant memory pushed to the back of my mind by a stellar set last week at the Whitney Museum in New York. On Friday night Javelin were punchy, cohesive, danceable, and fresh. They were upbeat and fun to watch, the vocals were reverb-heavy but on-point, and the musicianship was evident in Tom and George's performance.

The performance also got me reflecting on their full length release, No Mas, an album that we largely ignored here at TSRE. While the high points of No Mas don't quite reach the "Lindsay Brohan" and "Soda Popinski" pinnacles of Javelin, songs like "Moscow 1980" and "Vibrationz" are pretty darn great. Check 'em out below.

Javelin - Moscow 1980 (YSI) (filesavr)

Javelin - C-Town (YSI) (filesavr)

Javelin - Soda Popinski (YSI) (filesavr)