Wild Years is a folk-rock influenced indie-pop band out of Ann Arbor, Michigan that also doubles as a performance art troupe, building computers and microwaves in underground pools filled with yellow jello. Wha?? More on that in a bit. First, the band. The band is a project of Alexander Itkin that’s been gaining a small amount of buzz in the Ann Arbor and southeast Michigan music circles. Itkin provides all of the instrumentation and songwriting and lists Wilco, Will Oldham, Grandaddy, and M. Ward among his influences - all of which are apparent upon first listen, but there’s something extra-coustic about the music of Wild Years. Grandaddy in spirit, but something more than that…

The song “Bartering, For A Bike” is the clearest example, with its meandering Britpop melody and spaced out Beta Band electro orchestration. It could be an unheard Oasis demo, or it just might signal the arrival of the next Andrew Bird. No wait, that’s the plucky intro and one-man-band approach of “Golden Boys, Golden Girls”… there’s some Andrew Bird in there and definitely a bit of that early Silver Jews casual swagger as well. Both of these songs immediately felt at home in my music library.

And then… and then Itkin sent along a song from his upcoming EP (to be released very shortly) and my music library smiled from ear to ear. The third song posted below (”Half Japaneez Girl”) is from a yet-to-be-released EP and hints at the other side of Wild Years - fuzzed out portamento-y synths and punchy drum machine programming. It’s more well aligned with Ratatat and songs from the video game Metroid than it is the influences listed in the Wild Years bio. Take five songs along the lines of this one, mix them with six that sound like the other two posted below, throw in a photoshoot in an underground pool filled with yellow jello and homemade computers and microwaves, and I think some lucky indie label’s got the recipe for quite a debut LP from Wild Years.

Listen:
“Bartering, For A Bike”
“Golden Boys, Golden Girls”
“Half Japaneez Girl”

Two of the above songs are featured on the EP A Million Songs by Wild Years. It is offered as a free download (including artwork, lyrics, and another MP3) HERE. Look for another free EP from Wild Years in the near future.

Visit Wild Years on MySpace.