I love Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s the definitive action film – always immitated but never bettered. I had to make some dubious reference to the 1981 archaeologist-fest for this feature. The quote in the title is taken from one of the most famous scenes where young Satipo, one of Indy’s guides, begs him to throw the idol across the gap, in return for Indy’s whip. Needless to say, he leaves Dr. Jones to die, only to become impaled on several very sharp spikes moments later. I guess he got the point.
What does this have to do with music though? Well, Seattle ‘Indy’ (heh) types Throw Me The Statue seem to share a tenuous link to the Harrison Ford vehicle, if only in their bizarre name and not their music or message.
Seattle’s Throw Me The Statue is the project of Scott Reitherman, with fellow musicians Aaron Goldman, Will Cone, Joe Syverson and Jarred Grimes. Their sound is somewhat far removed from the usual cacophony of noise we usually listen to on Keep It Fast – combining intricate keyboard loops, electronic drum beats as well as elements of techno. Throw Me The Statue are a disjointed but fascinating musical project. The vocals range from a flat spoken-word attack that then develops into a melodramatic croon. Those familiar with the music of
Germany‘s About, will see the subtle comparisons between these two artists. The delicate electro-pop both make is one, the withering, oddly-pitched vocals being another. Unlike About, Throw Me The Statue steer clear of the layers of warped feedback that the German favours, adopting a more ramshackle, summery outlook. Throw Me The Statue have taken the stencil for making “unadulterated, catchy pop music’ and smacked it clean out of the park, like a batsman eager to prove his worth.
It’s a shame that these guys are possibly restricted to the blogsphere world, as tracks like the glitchy 90’s rock stomp of ‘Yucatan Gold‘ and ‘Lolita‘ draw comparisons to the heady days of spry guitar licks and buoyant drum beats. The perfect soundtrack to summer (here’s hoping we get one this year!)
Currently, Throw Me The Statue are doing several dates in America through January-March time. They re-release the album ‘Moonbeams‘ on Feb19th on Secret Canadian Records (a slightly tweaked version on the album they released through Baskerville Hill Records back in April last year.)
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Links
Throw Me The Myspace
Secretly Canadian
Lizard Hips
Junior Vice President of Keep It Fast. In other news: I work in social media, talk about dinosaurs, run a book club and have amazing facial hair. I am also a male man who is still not dead.
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