Wed 8/23 @ GA: LIFESTYLE (Sean of Freezepop)

[manny at telerama.com]

Hey listers:

In addition to tonight's OPPENHEIMER show at Garfield Artworks (also featuring
the debut of Pegritz's Retar-D2 project!), here's yet another synthpop gem
that popped up at the last minute!

last minute announced show
Wed Aug 23  8 pm  all ages $6 (but take $1 off if you mention the Goth List)
Garfield Artworks, 4931 Penn Avenue

[note: this show will be done by 10 pm. so you still have the opportunity
to also go see Cesium 137 and Reinforced at Asylum which is only $4! No excuses
not to see both! Support live music!]

Boston synthpop/New Wave heroes
LIFESTYLE
(featuring Sean T. Drinkwater of Freezepop, and a member of Ad Frank)
http://www.lifestyleland.com

with the last summer shows from
THE NIGHTLIFE (Central Catholic indie rock)
and BALL OF FLAME SHOOT FIRE (Mt Lebanon piano rock)

[btw if you are in NYC or DC catch Lifestyle at Pianos on 8/21 or DC9 on 8/22.]

here's some reviews

Instead of the silliness I expected, Frontier turned out to be one of the most
assuredly grown-up and musically sophisticated poptronica albums I've heard in
quite some time... Many of the songs feature mellow chords more typical of Burt
Bacharach than Bronski Beat, along with cool calypso and subtly ska-inflected
rhythms. Lifestyle makes up for lost manpower through technology, injecting
buzzing analog basses, shiny digital synth pads, and electronic beats into the
otherwise rock-oriented arrangements.
Sean Drinkwater's voice is an odd hybrid of Simon LeBon and Beck, minus the
accents and triple-distilled for extra smoothness. Lyrically, Drinkwater casts
himself as a low-budget poptronica Lothario...This frank romantic/sexual
honesty is reminiscent of the notoriously blunt love/lust lyrics of Serge
Gainsbourg and Momus -- except with less cynicism, and more tact.
-- Emil Hyde, 100unnatural.com


Lifestyle offers Frontier, a hook-laden collection of pure synth-pop. For an
idea of what it sounds like, picture Morrissey on Prozac fronting A-ha. If
reunions from both New Order and Roxy Music have yet to prove that another
revival of '80s nostalgia is under way, Lifestyle's Frontier is further
evidence... With enough positivity and catchy melodies to put a smile on the
face of even the biggest cynic, one might be tempted to call Frontier an album
of mindless retro-pop. Just don't expect to hear any apologies from the band.
-- Billboard Magazine


The sublimely idiosyncratic Boston-based label Archenemy made its presence felt
this year with a couple of superb discs... Lifestyle's new EP Frontier is
filled with disco-and-new wave-fueled paeans to life in the fast lane,
including the unforgettable "It Doesn't Mean That I Don't Love You If I Forget
to Call You Back," "Are you coming on to me?" and "I'd really like to makeout
with you."
-- The Boston Phoenix


Synthpop is officially back, and the would-be leader of the millennial synth
revolution is Lifestyle. Sean Drinkwater's lead vocals channel this Boston
quartet's high, high, high energy, and let me tell you, he ain't afraid to belt
it out. But, buyer beware: these songs will alter your DNA. You WILL be humming
"it doesn't mean that I don't love you..." And you WILL walk down the street
singing "la la la la la la la la la la," from "my favorite song." In a
post-indie world, this band isn't afraid to make themselves sound good, a
refreshing change from so much muddy, pretentious, purposely idiosyncratic
recordings filling the shelves of college radio stations and record stores
these days. Chalk one up for pop.
-- bambina, candyforbadchildren.com


HOLY CATCHY POP SONGS BATMAN! It's as if these guys went back to the 80's,
studied the good and the bad, kept the good stuff for themselves, and threw the
bad stuff to MTV to jerk off with.
>From the dance floors of Chelsea in NYC to the 80's retro nights that have
popped up all over middle America, there's something for everyone on this
Lifestyle release. The lyrics aren't heavy and overburdened with social angst.
Instead, they make suggestions like, "I guess we could get down" and "Are you
coming on to me, is this how it is going to be?" This album is one gigantic
flirtation.
The Pulp sounding "I'd Really Like to Make Out with You" gets my vote for best
song to woo a girl with (or guy, transsexual, blow-up-doll - depends on your
preference). Imagine: This song is playing in the background; You meet a girl
so delicious that she makes you forget that we are on the verge of world
destruction; You drive off into the unknown night on a Vespa scooter. Pure fun!
I saved the best song for last. "My Favorite Song" is what all dancey pop songs
should aspire to. This song has the Duran Duran "Hungry Like the Wolf" guitar
lick, vocals that lay on top of the song like syrup on blueberry pancakes, a
melody that I guarantee won't leave you for months, and the catchiest chorus
I've ever heard. Let's be honest, any song with repeating "La La La's" in it
has to be great.
Back in the 80's, we had a Republican for president, we were on the verge on
complete world destruction, the Boston Celtics had a good basketball team, and
music was made to dance to. Music was an escape from all of the nastiness
happening around us. Some 20 years later, we are right back where we were in
the 80's, and this time around, bands like Lifestyle are providing the fun.
These songs make me to roll around with a yummy girl with Lifestyle as our
soundtrack. Let the world blow up and crumble all around me. At least I'll die
having fun!
-- Rayon, earlash.com


Frontier, Lifestyle's new e.p., is like a magic (black or white, that's
questionable) book made to raise from the dead what seemed buried for good.
It's a collection of songs which seem to have been written with the aid of,
say, ABC or Duran Duran (and lead singer Sean Drinkwater's voice has something
vaguely simonlebonesque), or Classix Nouveau in a sort of unusually happy mood.
And, this is, actually, a very good thing about Lifestyle.
Their evocative power is immense, meaning that they instantly remind you of
someone or something very familiar, thus making the record very catchy and
enjoyable. Lots of names, apart from the ones above, come to mind, from Spandau
Ballet to Roxy Music, from Erasure to A Certain Ratio, maybe the closest
refererence to Lifestyle's electrohandclapguitarpop.
Becoming sort of kitsch is quite too easy, if you go the synth way, but
Lifestyle manage to keep their choices very well balanced, combining looped
sequences and electric guitars with surprising maturity and, in a way,
sophistication. Lifestyle are now about to release their second full-length
album, which will no doubt prove how far this maturity has gone and if they'll
consolidate their ever growing cult state. It wouldn't bad, though, to see what
they'd sound like if they stayed away from the dancefloor for a while and
seriously tried to be the next space oddity.
Four stars.
-- Max Malagnino, rainsound.net