Best Coast – Crazy For You (Mexican Summer)
Who says album art isn’t relevant in the digital age?
I sat on this record for nearly two months before listening to it because I thought the album cover looked stupid. Now I’m starting to regret not digging into Best Coast’s Crazy For You earlier, because it’s the perfect complement for summer.
At the same time, it’s also proving to be a nice complement to these early weeks of fall: a precociously sweet debut album that will have you in a sugar coma before the album’s half-hour has passed.
I probably haven’t adequately illustrated how infectious this album is, so let me confess that I thought Crazy For You was the album of the year immediately after the first listen. It wasn’t until a few more spins that I realized that it’s just wonderfully executed ’60s surf pop (think William and Jim Reid with vaginas and Ocean Pacific tank tops) with some of the most fuck-all stupid lyrics you’ll hear this year.
There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before — for my era, it was Slant 6 or The Primitives that filled the section, and for you kids, it’s Vivian Girls or Crystal Stilts. Crazy For You isn’t about noticing the influences; it’s about celebrating them to the point where you don’t even notice them because you’re so wrapped up in the record’s cutesy cool.
And if you’re able to figure out that Bethany Cosentino’s simpleton verse is part of the appeal, then Crazy For You may be the most delicious confection you’ve heard all year.
Video: Best Coast – “When I’m With You”
Video: “Boyfriend”