Electric Needle Room: It’s Getting Personal [Album]

Electric Needle Room is a band that has been on my radar for about as long as I have been writing about music.  In most recent years, you may recognize the band’s name from some features we have done on the Presidents of the United States of America volumes that one half of the group, Sir Matt Beat, has been releasing under the moniker that I thoroughly enjoy and find just as catchy and lovely as they are informative and enlightening.

But, Electric Needle Room is indeed two folks.  Brothers actually.  Matt and Steven Beat to be even more precise.  And for many years now, these two have been delighting audiences with the most indie popish, indie pop songs you will ever hear.  And on their latest effort It’s Getting Personal (technically ENR’s 7th album), they bring more of the brilliance I have held to be self-evident.  As you could imagine from a band featuring a guy who wrote a song about every president in history (even Millard Fillmore for chrissakes), the storytelling is absolutely amazing.  Simple pop tunes about real life, all in realm of bands like They Might Be Giants or Barenaked Ladies.  There are songs about Twitter, Facebook, dancing like no one is watching, simply surviving, and so much more.  Yes, It’s Getting Personal is another brilliant display of the finest indie pop group with a brilliant grace of storytelling to come out of Kansas since, well, probably ever.  I seriously could never get enough of these two.  Their songs are without a doubt create some of the most fun listening experiences I have ever had.

And if their music wasn’t intriguing enough, some of their promotional practices are intriguing as well.  For example, they are currently running an Indiegogo Campaign to help spread the joyous words of Electric Needle Room across the glove via college radio.  If you know anything about myself or my work, you know that I absolutely adore college radio and community radio stations.  They are seriously the only dials worth tuning in to.  I also love helping out bands get the word about the beauty they create, all the while getting some cool swag for doing so!  Seriously, for just a $5 donation to this campaign, you will be e-mailed a compact disc version of It’s Getting Personal as well as a sticker which claims that “Electric Needle Room is the 1,536th Best Band in the World”.  And for $20, they will even throw in a t-shirt.  And if you are Mr. or Mrs. Moneybags, for a chump change of $100, you can get all of this as well as a song written by Matt Beat, about whatever the hell you want!  This is an opportunity that is not to be missed.

But, if you are just a common listener, and not looking to become a part of a college radio campaign that could change history, that is fine.  I guess.  You can listen to and even download for FREE your own copy of It’s Getting Personal.  The very least you could do is check out these beautiful songs written with a zeal and zest for life and the art of telling stories about who fun and/or disparaging it can be.  Head on over to their Bandcamp page to do so.