Graveyard of Good Times

by Brandon Can't Dance

Overview

Graveyard of Good Times is the Lucky Number label debut of Brandon Can't Dance, the performance alias of Philadelphia's Brandon Ayres. A lo-fi musician championed by music scene-mate Alex G with a decade's worth of digital self-releases already to his credit, he wrote and recorded the album entirely on his own. The 16 tracks clock in at under four minutes apiece and dart through noise pop, dance pop, guitar rock, animated synth pop, and gloomier post-punk, often lingering in spaces in between. Lyrics have a tendency to keep it real in songs like "Headspace" and "Fuck Off and We'll Get Along." Wryer examples like "Rock Is Dead" and "Obligatory Star Surfing Song," which actually doesn't have any lyrics, are at least as common. Arrangement-wise, the album ranges from the delicate bedroom guitar of "Freak of Freaks," to the heavy distortion and drums on "The World Is Broken," to the humming synths and electronic drums of "Where My Boys At," with its early-'80s demeanor. "Don't You Want To" does a quirky version of guitar-noodling hard rock, but lead single "Smoke & Drive Around" is probably the most unexpected entry, delivering lyrics like "High five my friends/2 a.m./Where's my ride?" in an R&B falsetto over dancy electro-pop. While disjointed in a way that plays like a perhaps-too-extensive portfolio rather than something intended to be an album, the set reveals a bold and versatile songwriter as well as a performer and engineer. ~ Marcy Donelson

Product Details

Release Date:	01/13/2017
Label:	Lucky Number
UPC:	0689492176624
Rank:	146877

Tracks

1. Headspace
2. Smoke & Drive Around
3. A Greyhound Named Chelsea
4. Pop Queen of the Teen Scene
5. Where My Boys At
6. So Deep, So Tortured, So Freak
7. She Loves Anime
8. Fuck Off and We'll Get Along
9. Rock Is Dead
10. Angelina
11. The World Is Broken
12. Freak of the Freaks
13. Don't You Want To
14. Me Inside Here
15. Obligatory Star Surfing Song
16. Believe in Fear

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Brandon Can't Dance   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Tim Hampson   Artwork
Brandon Ayres   Composer
Evangeline Barron   Photography
Jason Mitchell   Mastering