These United States

It’s been a good handful of years for honest-to-goodness American rock music. Among the many bands who have gained notoriety eschewing sub-genre-isms and arty sonic excess, These United States stands out as the most unrelentingly positive of the bunch with its latest album, Everything Touches Everything. Much of the album feels like one long rave-up, with crescendos everywhere. Punchy, chunky riffing; straightforward beats; lyrics that can be heard and largely understood; and a sense of well-wishing largesse define the album’s sound. It’s a big album, with big aspirations and giant touchstones. There’s Springsteen in here, and Neil Young, allowing a bit of country into the mix. This is music that wants nothing more than to bleed its enthusiasm into its audience, and it largely succeeds. The only disappointments come when the band gets mired in downtempo philosophizing. TUS can pull that off, too, it just doesn’t quite fit in this set of grin-splitting barn-stormers.With Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, The Devil Whale. Photo courtesy Sarah Law. NICHOLAS HALL
Mon., Nov. 9, 8 p.m., 2009