Must Watch Songs and Performances
With over 20 years of playing together and over 140 songs, there is a lot pick from! Sure there are the couple songs that most people know The Front Bottoms for, but if you were to take a deeper dive, you might find some gems. One performance that is a favorite of mine and many others is their NPR Tiny Desk Concert video which will be linked below. It’s a raw stripped down version of some of my favorite songs, “Au Revoir”, “Swear To God the Devil Made Me Do It”, “The Feud”, and “Twin Sized Mattress”. You get a mix of popular and not so familiar songs.
While I thoroughly enjoy this performance, this isn’t what it would be like seeing them live. They travel with a full band and are much more energetic. It’s not as stripped down. And this makes it super enjoyable and a great time. After seeing them 9 times, they never disappoint. I’ve seen them in four different sates and also saw Brain Sella, the lead singer just by himself. Where he played my favorite song Flying Model Rockets. There from New Jesrey, so they play around the area often. I highly recommend going to see them perform. You won’t regret it. I’m going to list some of my favorite albums and songs below.
Album Rankings
- The Front Bottoms (2011)
- Talon of the Hawk (2012)
- Going Grey(2015)
- Back on Top (2017)
- In Sickness & Flames (2020)
- You Are Who You Hangout With (2023)
Song Suggestions
- Flying Model Rockets
- The Beers
- Mountain
- Legit Tattoo Gun
- Peach
- Funny You Should Ask
- The Plan
- 2YL
- Ginger
- Vacation Town
- Far Drive
- Grand Finale
- West Virginia
- Plastic Flowers
What to Expect
Josh Goller of The Spectrum has some interesting words that do help give some context on the “quirkiness” of the style of music. “Musically, the Front Bottoms are solid. The acoustic guitar and drum dynamic is supplemented with horns, synth, and even a cowbell when appropriate. But it’s the rolling beat of Uychich’s drumming and his tortured backup vocals that flesh out Sella’s distinctive vocal style, which calls to mind a more realist They Might Be Giants or less profound Mountain Goats. Still, with what they have here, the Front Bottoms can achieve quirkiness while maintaining an edge”. It’s not for everybody but it definitely is worth a listen!
