I was pretty darn thrilled to find Young Love’s new cd, Too Young To Fight It, in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago. Upon receiving the album, I immediately went to my room, popped it in the cd player and turned up the volume. Out blasted ‘Discotech’ and I couldn’t help but get up and dance. Dan Keyes-style around the room (if you haven’t seem the lead singer of Young Love’s moves, then you are missing out, he revolutionized my repetoire). I had been listening to the free EP I received at a Young Love show for ages and to have my hands finally on the album made me a bit giddy. That is until I heard the rest of the songs.

The EP sampler I nearly wore a hole in included singles ‘Discotech’ and ‘Find a new way,’ both great, poppy, dance tracks that defy anybody to not love them for their instant likeability (when I am looking for a song to pump me up before I go out, those have recently been the first two I play). Surprisingly though, for the most part, the rest of Too Young to Fight is very emo, on par with My Chemical Romance or the slower songs of Blink 182. Emo is certainly a genre which I have no grudges against, but if you aim to make a dance record and sell your first two singles as such, having the rest of the album constantly repeat the theme of a heart broken by a narcissistic girl in an unoriginal “I should be wearing black eyeliner” manner, then it is bit misleading. I was similarly duped by Shiny Toy Guns last year with the song ‘Le Disko’ off of their skater/ Evanescence-like album, We Are Pilots.

There are a couple of additional tracks that make this album a worthwhile purchase for the New Year. ‘Too young to fight it’ is another upbeat dance song as is similarly, ‘Underneath the Night Sky.’ What all of these songs have in common is that they superbly paint an idealized, sweeping picture of going out in New York City. They are songs that give you hope of a night dancing, drinking, making out and roaming the streets of a city that never sleeps- the sort of nights you watch attractive 20 year olds have in movies. The tracks scream of being written by an idealistic young man whose good looks and talent have swept him into NYC, providing him the sort of story book city life that many young people coming to the city only dream of. You may find the string of clichés, well, cliché, such as in the chorus to ‘Discotech’ “Do what you believe, stand up break free bright lights big city”, but even so, you are able to forgive all of that with one look at the handsome young man who dresses like a model and dances like how you only wish you could.

Is Young Love the new Rapture? Dan Keyes and the rest of the band had that question on everybody’s mind last night (except the crazy Lady Sov fans who were dressed EXACTLY LIKE HER!!).

Young Love stormed through an 8-song set, closing with crowd-fave ‘Discotech’ and running through most songs on his/their upcoming debut release, Too Young To Fight It, out 1/30/07.

The long-lost member of Franz Ferdinand, or so Dan appears, really has the entire package. Good looks, silly dance moves, catchy songs and an affinity for keyboards/synths.

What more could you ask for? By the end of the set, even the pint-sized Sov fantatics were shaking their ponytails and falling in love with Young Love.

Yes, there are THREE parts to Young Love’s hit video, ‘Discotech’.

Here’s part 1 (parts 2 and 3 all over YouTube):

His debut LP, Too Young To Fight It, comes out in January.

Young Love comes to Bowery Ballroom this Sunday and Monday with the ubiquitous and vertically challenged Lady Sovereign.

We give it The Music Slut seal of approval!

Last night, I decked myself out in my flashy gold heels and 70′s orange dress and went over to Crash Mansion for the first time ever. The place was more lounge than concert venue. I walked in and it actually took me a few moments to figure out where the stage was. I was flying solo that night, which I hate, so I went over to the bar to get a calming beverage. My beverage of choice is usually beer. Maybe it’s all that time in Scotland, maybe it’s because I’m poor and feel that I get more bang for my buck, whatever, I like beer. But I don’t like Miller Lite. The sponsor for the show last night was Miller so in true Communist fashion, all of the other taps were covered and bottles of Miller filled the refrigerators. When I asked the bartender about it, she said that it was on special because of the sponsorship.
“Ok, what’s so special then?”
“huh?”
“HOW MUCH? What’s the deal?”
“Uh, 5 bucks.”
That’s a bargain if you ask me. 5 whole bucks for a shitty beer.
“Fine, I’ll have one.”
“We only have bottles, the tap is all head.” Where have I heard that before?
“Nevermind, give me a vodka-tonic.”

Half an hour later, I was sitting alone on the side waiting for Young Love to hit the stage. It took about 15 mins for me not to be able to stand being by myself. I spotted two guys I thought looked familiar so I went over. “Don’t I know you from The Noisette’s show? Aren’t you Chris’s friends?” Yes I did, and yes they were. So hi Ben (Ben, not Matt, which I still feel bad about calling you- doh!) and BQ. Thanks for letting me hang out.

I know Young Love has been bopping around NYC for a while, but this is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to see him, Dan Keyes. Now here’s my question, I thought Young Love was just one person, Dan, but last night he kept saying “We are Young Love.” Anyway, him/they were outrageous. I loved it. Miss Mod comments how it was odd that they opened with the single ‘Discotech.’ I agree, though most of his songs are really strong so I think it was a good idea to just grab the audience from the beginning with the song everybody knows. Saturday, Young Love will be at Mercury Lounge and after that, they are off on tour. So you have missed all the residences and random shows, I suggest hitting the Lounge. YL go on at 11:30 with Lions and Tigers on at 10:30 and Stylofone at 9:30. Tickets are still onsale for a tenner.

Stream ‘Discotech‘
Young Love’s MySpace with lots more tunes.

After Young Love left the stage, it looked like the place cleared out but Crash Mansion is a tricky bastard. As soon as Radio 4 came on, like water being filled into a glass, the place suddenly filled right up. There was a small group up front dancing like mad things and dominating the group was a giant of a guy in white jeans with arms flailing. I had to take a picture. You rock man, and don’t let anybody tell you different.

I liked Radio 4. The sound was so loud that it actually made the music hard to listen to but on a whole, it was enjoyable. Their music doesn’t vary too much. The last song they played, I nudged the person next to me and said “Oh, this one I know.” I was mistaken though, it just reminded me of a Hot Chip song. So yeah, good for a night out to dance to but not groundshaking.

Go see what Miz Mod has to say about it all.

Ok, so the new Rapture song is OK.

Radio 4 has just gone downhill, way too quickly.

It’s been ages since the last !!! album.

I present Young Love. I wanted to dislike them (actually just one guy) for reasons I won’t mention here on the site but it turns out it’s not actually half bad, in fact it’s quite decent. Some fine demos in the link above…

Here’s some more for you to check out (in video form) should you so desire to bust a move (the tune is called ‘Discotech’).