Search - American Princes :: Little Spaces

A great record from a great up and coming band!

P. Jones | Brooklyn, NY | 10/25/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Recently caught their show at Pianos in the lower east side and was finally able to pick up a copy of the new album. All I can say is keep your eyes on these guys, as they have some of the sharpest songwriting you will hear in a band that rocks as hard as they do! Their angular, back-and-forth melodic constructions are suffused with heartache and longing. It's easy to play spot-the-influence in a band, but with the Princes you can just tell they have grown up listening to the right stuff. 'Providence, RI' and 'Revolver' are as gut-wrenching and affecting as Johnny Thunders or Nick Cave, and 'Rock and Roll Singer' takes the angst of a Five Eight or Jawbox and shoots into an irresistable pop refrain. Striking, uncoventional songwriting with solid musical chops and an increasingly distinctive sound. American Princes are only waiting to be discovered."

Strait from a native of Arkansas AKA "The Saw"

Jason Harrington | www.myspace.com/mad_trucker | 09/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Take it from me (a worthless looser), I could count on my two hands the number of potential "artists to watch" that are from Arkansas, but these guys are definitely one of them. I feel that the ability of this band is up there with other indie-pop groups such as "We Are Scientists" but when that sound gets sucked in and spit out by somebody here in the south, it comes out a lot more jangly, terse and almost angular--OK, just kidding--I don't even know what half those words mean, but what I'm trying to say is that this band should come off as being a lot less pretentious than most of what they are compared to, because even though we are all slow and half imbred, southerners who fall into the "artsy" category are often a bit jadded underneath. What all this means is that our most catchy and poppy groups (not including Evanescence because the local scene has basically disowned them) are still angst ridden knuckle-dragging dirty kids. Yeah--American Princes are a cross between geek and muscle, which is an excellent way to sum up the underground scene here, althought we don't have many groups that sound alike. Anyway, BUY THE DAMNED RECORD before these guys get desperate and start trying to sound like the Bravery (who I kind of like, I regret to say). As of right now they are also on an Arkansas label (Max Recordings), which is basically becoming a bit of a go-to place for indie music from Arkansas.



The only other really excellent band partially from The Saw who seem to be slipping into the "indie radar" would be The Gossip (I will probably get treated like the Evanescence singer now, for saying that). Oh yeah, "The Kicks" also have roots here, and their kind of OK sometimes. Dang, I almost forgot to name drop on the mighty SOOPHIE NUN SQUAD. If You get to see SNS play live then you CANNOT miss the opportunity, as they are a comical punk band inspired by the Anthrax and Public Enemy song "Bring the Noise" (they don't sound like that though, I assure you. Their shows are just a real fun time.).



Hey, I mean, we DID give the world Bill Clinton. Don't we get a cookie for that one?"