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Tired of trying to save the world with their songs about girls, the Shakes on their third CD set their sites on the tragic remains of their beloved Silverlake. The Rise and Fall of Modern Living is a Kinks-like travelogue on the nation's leading trust fund slum set to a Cuisinart mix of rock history, employing everything from classic sixties pop and L.A. cosmic cowboy country to bubblegum and Norteno to tell the story of the Gentrification Blues. Survivors of Silverlake’s post-whatever underground rock scene, Peter Gilabert and Janet Housden’s long standing institution use their new release to reach out -- in their own twisted and jaded way -- to both the people and parasites who populate the sunshine jungle/plastic paradise that Los Angeles has devolved into.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

 

tracklist
01 On My Street
02 Modern Living
03 The Greeter Of Sanborn Avenue
04 Mr. Fix-It
05 Hyperion Street Bridge Song (Sunshine City)
06 Right Down The Hall
07 Dorian Gray
08 Gentrification Blues
09 Wrong Side Of The Door
10 Little Babies
11 Love And Radiation
12 Ballad Of A Carpetbagger
13 Yo Quiero Dinero
14 Mexican Wedding
15 Broken Beds/On My Street Again
16 Mugged
17 Afterture
CAT. #: TEENA-011
Released: 2006
 
 
 

"Are you dirty?"

The Shakes - Grandpa Supersonic/Please Don't Go
CD single
 
Teenage Fanclub meet the Flamin’ Groovies in a pure pop tribute to legendary music biz madman Kim Fowley. Available as a download or free CD single with the purchase of the Shakes’ The Rise & Fall Of Modern Living.
 
 
 
 

 

Thankfully, the Shakes are able to communicate the joy of their salad days as clearly as their annoyance with the slide downhill, and on The Rise And Fall Of Modern Living they serve up some sharp pop-influenced garage rock (or garage-influenced pop/rock) that boasts plenty of ringing guitars, chunky hooks, and imaginative textures. This is fun and engaging stuff even when it's talking seriously, and it confirms the Shakes deserve a higher profile along with comfortable, rent-controlled living quarters. -- All Music

The Shakes have finally fulfilled their pure-pop potential with the minor (and possibly — time will tell — major) masterpiece, The Rise and Fall of Modern Living, where Peter Gilabert’s ambitious song cycle about the streets of Silver Lake is fleshed out with lavish string and horn arrangements that often evoke Love’s Forever Changes. -- L.A. Weekly

The Rise & Fall Of Modern Living is like a turntable souvenir of every drunken party, pursued flirtation, and sidelong anxiety common to the farthest fringes of the old scene; one of the most startlingly accomplished collections of late 2006. -- Los Angeles City Beat

Peter Gilabert is such a good songwriter, and the band does such a brilliant job of melding the more intellectual side of The Kinks with the more innocent side of The Modern Lovers, that you can't help but love every moment of The Rise and Fall of Modern Living. -- Razorcake

 

Teenacide Records P.O. Box 291121 Los Angeles, CA 90029