Music Review: COOLRUNNINGS' Dracula Is Only The Beginning

COOLRUNNINGS are an other-worldly five piece band from Knoxville, Tennessee. Their full-length, Dracula Is Only The Beginning, follows a number of EPs and singles released through their label Dracula Horse.

This album reads like a eclectic best-of; the band members trade instruments and styles from song to song without losing a step. Though they list Brian Eno, the Ramones, and african percussion amongst their influences, COOLRUNNINGS are very much a band of this era. As never before, young musicians these days are able to expose themselves to a vast and exotic universe of music. You get the impression that these guys are happily floating in that universe, drawing on the tones and textures which most help illustrate their vision.

The standouts on this album include Thunderbirds, whose chugging muted guitars and stomping toms immediately draw you in. I can Be Dreamy pairs Ramones-esque vocals with a unique drum pattern, distorted synths and jangly guitars which combine to create a cloudly haze of a song which shouldn't work, but does. Fort Kid is the beautiful and evocative album closer, a stirring whirlwind of melodies which fold into each other and eventually surrender to sweeping strings. If as the title suggests, this is only the beginning, then the future is bright.

COOLRUNNINGS' Dracula is Only The Beginning is out now on Dracula Horse.
03 Thunderbirds.mp3 by DRACULA HORSE