Album of the Week: Drug Rug "Paint the Fence Invisible"

Listen to tracks and read our review of the sophomore LP from this Cambridge, MA-based indie rock duo.

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ARTIST:Drug Rug

ALBUM:Paint the Fence Invisible

SOUNDS LIKE:Sonny & Cher x Bikini Kill x the Beatles x the Zombies (yes, we're comparing them to the Zombies and motherfucking Bikini Kill, it's good stuff!)

FUN FACT: The two main members of DR, girlfriend and boyfriend Sarah Cronin and Tommy Allen, met while they were working at the Middle East Club in Cambridge, MA. Legend has it they spent their first date drinking whiskey in bed and playing guitar...presumably after they made sweet, sweet love.

WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Because drugs are fun and listening to really druggy music (preferably while on drugs yourself) is extra fun. Not to belabor the point, but when a band names itself after those baja ponchos the hippie kids used to wear in high school (yeah, we had to look up "drug rug" in Urban Dictionary and were much relieved to learn that it did not refer to that piece of carpet we smoked thinking it was a chunk of meth dropped on the floor) you expect certain things, and PTFI delivers: backward guitar solos, twinkling keyboard riffs, delightfully obtuse lyrics, ethereal vocals...

But while Drug Rug may be stoned, they're not lazy. The boy-girl vocals are pretty but never sweet and the multi-layered songwriting and lo-fi, lower register-heavy production values on tracks like "Never Tell" and "Passes On" recall uber classic rock LPs like The White Album and the Velvet Underground's Loaded. Sure, PTFI can't be a classic itself (mostly because those other guys thought of those things first), but how many times can you listen to The White Album? And yes, Drug Rug is "indie" rock, but unlike a lot of their indie counterparts, DR actually sound like they're having fun. And that's the reason you started doing drugs listening to music in the first place, right?

KEY TRACKS (LISTEN):

"Never Tell"

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE ALBUM ON MP3 FOR $5.99!

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