Tag: Helicopter Helicopter

Helicopter Helicopter
Wild Dogs With X-Ray Eyes
2003

Helicopter Helicopter starts off Wild Dogs With X-Ray Eyes with “Helicopter Fight Song.” Doing so makes it clear that aren’t venturing far from the slickly produced power pop style they refined on their previous effort, By Starlight. What may shock some listeners familiar with the band’s first few records is the apparent positivity of the track. It’s hard to imagine that the band who penned the lines “I can’t stand to see blue babies/Gangrene crawling up their sides” could turn around and write “How can you say that none of this is really worth it?/When we’ve already won.” They did. Don’t panic. There is still plenty of talk of ghosts, lasers, hatchets, devils and stoning your friends on the rest of the album.

Helicopter Helicopter bring back a bit of grit to the proceedings this time around. Where the songs By Starlight had been polished to gem-like perfection, Wild Dogs With X-Ray Eyes incorporates a touch more of the rawness found in their early work. No one is going to confuse any songs on this record with “Gay Porno” or “Please Please Tito.” That’s not what this record is about. It’s about achieving balance. Dark and memorable. Hooks with teeth. “Harsh Light” and “The Devil” are among the group’s best work. The acoustic “Pine Trees On Fire” draws in the listener with its starkness. “Talk The Flyer Down” and “1234” are power pop gold.

Wild Dogs With X-Ray Eyes would be Helicopter Helicopter’s last album. The band left behind an impressive body of work.

Where to get it:

• Amazon

Helicopter Helicopter
By Starlight
2001

By the time Helicopter Helicopter released their third album, By Starlight, the band had completed their transformation from noisy bards of society’s underbelly to full on power pop poets. The opening track, “And Just Once,” makes sure you know this straight away. The production is slick, the boy/girl harmonies are spot on and the songs are ridiculously catchy.

By Starlight parades out one potential hit after another. The first six songs on the record all sound like singles. The last of that batch is “Passing Car,” where Chris Zerby and Julie Chadwick effortlessly trade vocal lines. “Slow Dying Flashlight” settles into the 7th spot, giving the listener a dark respite before the sing along resumes with “History Of Space Flight.”

Despite the drastic stylistic shift from their previous work, By Starlight still maintains many of the trademark Helicopter Helicopter characteristics. The verses of “The Afterworld” are as ominous as anything that came before it. Helicopter Helicopter’s lyrics still aren’t your standard power pop fare. In fact, the contrast between the ultra catchy melodies and the dark themes works well. There are still outbursts of noise. This time around they are shaped and controlled, manicured to fit into the mix. Make no mistake, though. This is a power pop record – and a damn good one at that.

Where to get it:

• Amazon

Helicopter Helicopter
Analog & Electrical Fields
1999

Analog & Electrical Fields picks up where Helicopter Helicopter’s debut album, Squids And Other Fishes, left off. The songs are still dark, still noisy, and still beautiful.

The album opens with the blistering “Ghost Face”, which is reminiscent of the aggressive rockers of their debut. In fact, “Ever Since The Buzzards Moan”, “Scarab In A Hole” and “Sinking Light” all share the same ethos as those early songs.

The band begins to expand their sound a bit on this record. “Please Take Me To Mars” sounds like it would be at home on The Flaming Lips’ Transmissions from the Satellite Heart album. “Firefly Mechanical” lays back a bit and really lets the vocal take center stage. The triumphant closing chorus of “Map” could be on infinite repeat for a very long time before wearing out its welcome.

Helicopter Helicopter have created a classic album by balancing their emerging pop sensibility with their knack for dark imagery. The band proves once again that there’s beauty in the shadows.

Where to get it:

• Amazon

Helicopter Helicopter
Squids And Other Fishes
1998

“What are you doing later tonight?  Well I don’t know, I guess maybe drugs and gay porno…”

Squids And Other Fishes was the debut full length from Helicopter Helicopter.   It was the darkest and most raw record the band made.  There were images of things you don’t really want to know about.  These were songs about the night.  This was like a musical adaptation of Taxi Driver.

“Split my lip on a bottle of Jack.  I swear to God I never felt so good…”

There was noise and space. Both were equally brutal when wielded by Helicopter Helicopter.  Squids And Other Fishes was off kilter indie rock – evil off kilter indie rock.  The sparse arrangement of “Great Big Meaningless” added to the dirge-like feel.  “Please Please Tito” and “Gay Porno” went for the jugular.  To this day, “Lucky” is one of my favorite songs ever to come out of Boston.

“What if you knew?”

Chris Zerby and Julie Chadwick shared song writing and vocal duties in the band.  The boy/girl dynamic contrasted well with the subject matter.  Both seemed to enjoy the role of pied piper, luring the listener into their twisted world.

“I’m the only one who can stand you!”

The band did hint at the catchy indie rock that would dominate some of their later releases.  Choruses got stuck in your head (until the next one came along to dislodge it), but the pop sensibilities never overpowered the dark imagery.  In the end Squids And Other Fishes was about life in the gutter.

“We’ll smoke crack at the end of the world…”

Where to get it:

• Amazon