Artist to Watch: Best Coast

Phil Spector girl group harmonies

Ringo's drums

Charging, three chord power house of the Ramones

This is the equation that is Best Coast; sunny, washed-over garage pop that has been rung out, worn, re-washed, soiled once again, and finally said, "To hell with it." It's a garage sound that is all too familiar, yet, there is something ironically new and productive with Best Coast's sound. It's like when you're 19 years old and you finally discover your toy box full of action figures and realize that for some odd, pathetic reason, they're still incredibly fascinating as when you were five. Best Coast's lyrics are filled with exclamations, pronunciations, declarations, observations....and every other kind of --ation you can think. The words are more than stinging love letters to boyfriends of the past; they're diary entries from a teenage beach beauty who has had her heart broken for the first time. But she perseveres and looks to the shore towards her fellow beach bum; a tan, glossy, dirty, shirtless board rider who cares for nothing else besides his board and his girl. Best Coast is what the beach bingo movies of the 1960s wish they could have been like--nonchalant, hopeful, tired, and glazed. Gidget better watch her ass.

Best Coast was started in 2009 by former commercial child star Bethany Cosentino when she relocated from her home of California to New York for college. Cosentino eventually met up with Best Coast's future guitarist Bob Bruno and soon began creating demos. However, Cosentino wasn't entirely new to this; as a teen, she began writing and performing music at 15, uploading her earliest tracks to her MySpace under the name Bethany Sherayah. Fortunately for us, she turned down numerous record contracts for the chance to be the next Hannah Montana.

After realizing her unhappiness in the hustle and bustle of New York City, Cosentino dropped out of school and returned to the west coast, or in her opinion, "the best coast." Here, her musical influences further inspired her aim for the future of the band. 2009 proved to be a productive year for Best Coast, sporadically releasing minor glimpses of the band here and there, such as their self-titled 7'' single on indie label Art Fag, Make You Mine Ep, and Something in the Way 7'' single released on label PPM.

Presently, Best Coast has been touring with Vivian Girls and keeping busy on their debut full-length album ready for release sometime this year. In an interview with Pitchfork, Cosentino said:

It's all new, which is exciting but also nerve-wracking because I'm like, "Oh God, are people even going to like this or are they just going to wish it's the stuff they've already heard?" When we walked into the studio, we said: drums are Beatles-esque, guitars are like the Ramones-- really punky, messy, and sloppy-sounding-- and vocals like Phil Spector.

For more news on Best Coast and their upcoming album, Fell in Love with a Drummer will keep you posted on all this and more.

--Mike