Posted on: January 10, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Yoni Gordon And The Goods – a Boston favorite who outgrew the basements of the DIY scene not by attitude but sheer talent and explosive word-of-mouth. From the same city that breeds the likes of Drug Rug and Protokoll, Yoni Gordon & Co. wax nostalgic on the finer points of Bruce Springsteen or Ted Leo in a more updated, underground manner and a plethora of personal twists.

YONI GORDON AND THE GOODS
Buried In The Basement
(available now)

MP3: “Buried In The Basement”

“Here comes Yoni Gordon…with an album’s worth of songs that’re twice as smart as they need to be and catchier than the clap. ‘Buried in the Basement’ sounds like someone welded the gilded cynicism/postgrad pop smarts of Elvis Costello to Jeff Mangum’s bleeding heart, with a bonus crazed-dub outro.” – Boston Phoenix, MP3 Of The Week

“Buried in the Basement is an interesting study in the assembly of a record — an exercise in looking at both a forest and its trees.” – Northeast Performer Magazine

“In a better time or better place every Goods show would be treated like a glorious night of rock and roll nirvana. There would be giddy anticipation in the days leading up to a show, Staples would run out of markers due to so many folks buying them up in order to circle the date on the calendar. Yoni Gordon is a guy that believes absolutely that at any given moment music can uplift you, can bridge seemingly endless chasms and leave a room full of strangers sweaty, smiling and walking out to the bar arm in arm while the last echoes of a catchy chorus spilling off their lips and anyone who gives Buried in the Basement a listen is going to come away a believer.” – Pocket Full Of Chump Change

“I’ve been living in a cesspool of mediocre music lately thanks to all these lovely submissions I keep getting, and Yoni Gordon came along a few days ago to pull me out of the pit.” – The Glorious Hum

“Yoni Gordon makes Bruce Springsteen look like a lazy upper class intellectual with no time for the common man, and a codeine addiction.” – Ben Sisto, Boston-based promoter/booker/personality

“One thing I dig about this dude and his music is that it seems honest and sincere.” – Captains Dead

2007 has been a good year for Yoni Gordon and the Goods. The band has witnessed the release of their second LP, Buried In The Basement, a tour of the eastern half of the states that played out more like a victory lap than a DIY tour, a bizarre and funny appearance on the Fox 25 Morning Show and last but not least a clean bill of health for bassist Faisal Aswat, who had been diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma in 2006.

After returning home from their tour last year, Yoni, drummer Scott Eisenberg, and Aswat spent an afternoon in Somerville, MA’s Q Division studios, bashing out all 13 songs that ended up becoming the new record. Most of the tracks on the album are live, played with the same engaging ferocity as their live sets. If there had been one criticism of the band, it was its lack of a recording that sounded as good as their energetic foot-stomping, sing along shows with proper production. Buried In The Basement is just that – a record to be proud of, and one worth listening to over and over again. The songs match the beating heart, speed and aggression of punk rock with the sophistication and humored of seasoned singer-songwriters like Ted Leo or Elvis Costello would bring to their craft. The title track serves as a love letter to basement shows, and “The Runaway” is as good as a pop song can get. “Up The Punks” has also become a bit of an anthem for a pocket of the Boston rock scene.

http://www.yonigordon.com

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