Apart from the creeptastic image they’ve come to adopt, the Xray Eyeballs are actually a relatively fun, garage rockin’ group.
While a lot of this Brooklyn band’s imagery consists of skulls, crystal meth and other touchy subjects… deep down, the band’s songwriter O.J. San Felipe is a hopeless romantic, and it shows on catchy songs like "Escape From That Girl" and "Fake Wedding". Helping tug at the heartstrings are accompanying vocalists Carly Rabalais and Jay High, lending soulful ooh’s and aah’s that help round out Felipe’s strung out whine.
Like The Beets and Deerhunter, Xray Eyeballs revel in the lo-fi. If you’d never heard of this band before, you might be convinced they were a lost 7-inch-only garage band from your dad’s youth. While they do share much in common with Nuggets-style jangle and 4-track charm, they have a Misfits-style gore that leads to some spooky results in the video for the LP’s first single Crystal.
Pre-order the record here and see them play at Shea Stadium on April 14 with tribal noisemakers Zulus. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets) – Read Chuck Davis’ interview with the band here.