French Kicks - Two Thousand

French Kicks
Two Thousand
Vagrant, Startime International, 2006
Compared to the high standard they set with One Time Bells: 5/10
Sunny day city listening: 8/10
Overall: 6/10

I'm glad I stepped outside for lunch today. Making a trip to the James A. Farley Post Office, I got a chance to give a few listens to the new French Kicks album, Two Thousand.

Overall, the French Kicks are some rock band. They sound a lot like former labelmates, The Walkmen, and they've got some solid production and songwriting. It sounds just as uninteresting as you might think. The fun that I had walking around the biggest post office in New York City was slightly enhanced, however, thanks to some catchy guitar post-rock.

That's really all the good things i can come up with to say about this album. French Kicks made an album in 2002, One Time Bells, that has a special little place in my heart. Two Thousand is nice, as I've said, but I'm wasting my time trying to justify it. There are some great moments; "Go On" and "Keep It Amazed" being my favorites.

To digress, though, I did have a nice walk around the post office. Apparently, you can reach it from Penn Station without going outside. I'd like to think I could get to everywhere I need in the city without ever going above ground. There's a nice little inscription across the top of the building: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." I learned that this same phrase appeared in a story by Herodotus—a greek storyteller. The story was about how dedicated Persian postal couriers were. Can't we ask the same of our Brooklyn rockers?