I stumbled across this band the way I usually do, on Sirius-XM’s XMU station (formerly Left of Center), channel 26. The song was Coast Of Carolina, and I liked it right away. I wrote it down for further research then proceeded to forget about it. Well, a few days ago, I was going through some notes and came across that one. I went to Amazon to check them out and ended up buying the whole album.

Telekinesis reminds me a bit of Phoenix and Everclear, though not exactly like either band. The album is really easy to listen to, though not “easy listening” by any stretch. Especially impressive is the fact that this is their debut album – off to a great start, for sure. I love the whole album, but the most notable songs are the previously-mentioned Coast of Carolina, Tokyo, Great Lakes, and Calling All Doctors.

One thing I like a lot about this album is that the songs are simultaneously consistent with each other and varied. They all have a similar upbeat feel to them, kinda poppy, but there are different flavors to each. Some are more grungy, while other sound more like classic 50s rock. Some even sound folksy.

I saw another reviewer refer to them as power pop, and I guess they do fit that description a bit, but I think they lack the raw wall-of-sound feel to truly fit that genre. They’re a bit smoother and poppier than that. There is a definite low-fi feel to the album, especially Rust and Coast of Carolina. I don’t think it works 100% of the time, such as the equipment noise at the end of Rust, but overall it’s not bad.

Check out Coast of Carolina. If you like that song, go ahead and buy the whole album. You won’t be disappointed.

The first two singles off the album are also the first two songs – the aforementioned Lisztomania and 1901. They kick it off well, setting the tone for the rest of the album. After that comes Fences, another great song that’s worthy of release as a single. In fact, basically every song on this album could find success as a single, in my opinion. Other noteworthy songs are Lasso, Rome, and Countdown. Basically, everything.

The only thing wrong with the album is that it’s very short, at a touch over 36 minutes. I feel that some of the songs could have, and should have, been stretched out and played with a bit. Maybe they’ll consider doing that during their live shows. In any case, given that “too short” is the only negative I could come up with, this is one spectacular album. I have a feeling it will take a very long time for me to get tired of it, if ever.

Even though 2009 is shaping up to be a great year in the indie music scene, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix gets my vote for Album of the Year so far.

Enough of my gushing. Go out and buy it!

Here’s a link to the video so you can hear the full song. I don’t think the video is that great, but the song is good enough to overcome that.