Up up and away!
The Capes are amongst the onslaught of 'Young UK Rock Bands' that are just reaching these shores and I think they deserve to be heard here in the US because they've got a unique take on that oh-so-current sound, thanks in part to the buzzy analog synths they use - really, it reminds me a bit of the Rentals, one of my favorite 'what could have been' bands of the mid-90s.
The Capes met at Goldsmiths College at the University of London, where they shared studio space with their school-friends Bloc Party. They've been big in the UK for a while now, with positive reviews of their early 7"s in NME, The Times, The Independent and Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq. Their debut, a 12-track album recorded in early 2005, is all tight hooks and lyrical barbs. To promote the record here in the US, the band did a crazy "45 shows in 50 days" tour, including a performance during CMJ at the Museum of Television and Radio (I wanted to go to that show!). As a result the record spent 4 weeks sitting in the top 20 of the CMJ radio chart.
Their debut self-titled album is released here in the US by So-Cal upstarts Hard Soul Records, I believe as of today, and is available to order through them here or through Amazon.
Interestingly enough, two of the bandmembers, brothers Nick and Rupert, share robot Jon's last name - I don't know if they're related, but they could be. In fact, because the last name is phonetically similar to mine, we could all be related, in a distant-cousins way.
Weird.