Sugar City Magic by Bound Stems

October 7, 2009

Man, I really really dig this song and video. This is exactly what my friends and I should be doing on the weekend: rocking the crap out of a great song in our front yard while looking dapper with effortless insouciance and emotion.

It’s a fairly epic song for indie rock standards (5:40) , packed with varied bits of musical goodness that all fit well together. It starts with a nice long Sonic Youthy intro, then rockets into  speedy guy-girl dual vocals (always a plus!) , downshifts, upshifts, gets all Arcade Firey, killer vocals-only interlude (with bikes!), lots of close-ups of that cutie keyboard player with the angelic voice, explosion of cymbals, both ride and crash, (drummer reminds me of Bill from Freaks & Geeks, another big plus), a majestic crescendo that ends with instruments tossed aside in favor of  a little football toss. Good stuff.

We played Bound Stems back on Podcast 51, “Happens to Us All Otherwise” from The Family Afloat record.  I just checked up on them, and alas, they have called it quits. Thanks Bound Stems, it was fun.

Jeff Lyons

Author: Jeff Lyons

I am the proprietor of this dumb site and Philly Trail Runners. I also co-host Junk Miles with Chip & Jeff. You can follow my daily nonsense on Twitter and Bluesky .