My Favorite (no pun intended) have always been one of my favorite bands. Hailing from Long Island, NY they were the new wave/post-punk revival before the Rapture ever got into a van and moved to Brooklyn from San Diego. Equal parts synth-pop and dream-pop, They crafted the sort of songs that felt more at home in a long gone era rather than modern updates on long defunct scenes. Their swooning keyboards & jangly guitars were the perfectly accented by the lyrics of  Michael Grace Jr., who was the sort of singer/lyricist who wore his love for Morrissey on his sleeve. Writing the kind of over-the-top heartfelt lines that left you guessing as to their sincerity or if they were simply tongue-in-cheek. Coupled with the soft and sweet voice of co-vocalist/keyboardist Andrea Vaughn who not only provided the perfect female counterpart, but filled the band’s songs with the sort of sexual tension that is only possible when two band mates are in a real relationship that runs hot & cold. That emotive interplay burned across their cold and distant soundscape providing the sort of excitement and emotion devoid of most revivalist bands.

The band toiled for about a decade or so releasing one full-length and  a handful of EPs (later collected into a double album along with remixes) before calling it quits. I saw them play what would be their last show at the now defunct Hook in Red Hook, Brooklyn on Valentines Day to a mostly empty club. Sadly it was quite an apropos end in many ways. They were the kind of band that despite everything they did just couldn’t seem to get a break or the sort of attention their music deserved. And after a while I’m sure the creative tension mixed with the personal relationship between singers probably proved too much to handle without much commercial success to show from it.

The Kids Are All Wrong is (again no pun intended) my favorite of their EPs, with The Radiation being one of (sigh… again no pun intended) my favorite songs of all time.

My Favorite – The Kids Are All Wrong EP

- My Pal the Crook