Here's the first one I've located. A website called SoundXP - Alternative Music Webzine:

The Features Exhibit A
Temptation Records

Article written by Paul M
Aug 8, 2004.

Tennessee is not a place that is readily associated with rock music. With Nashville at its musical core it conjures up images of Stetsons, smoky fires and mournful ballads of betrayal, whiskey and er more betrayal. Hopefully this will all change soon as Tennessee is also the home of quirky four piece the Features and they have produced the finest album of 2004. No kidding.

Fronted by the skinny tank topped anti-pop star figure of Matt Pelham, the possessor of a remarkable quivering voice, it’s an album of lush organ led psychedelic rock and oddball Elephant 6 style indie. It kicks off in fine style with the rockabilly glam of the title track with Pelham yodelling over the top. It’s pretty relentless quality from there on in with swings in moods and lyrical themes to keep the listener enraptured. The Way It’s Meant to be is the Pixies playing Something Else; all crashing scuzzy guitars and handclaps. Me & the Skirts is a glorious skiffle pop tale of amorous self-pity (“Me and the skirts always turn out the same”) accompanied by Doors-esq cascading organs; truly euphoric arm pumping brilliance. Meanwhile Blow It Out has hints of the Shins but playing cheerful US college preppy rock.

Idea of Growing Old is a charming warm ballad, so sweet and lovely that it brings a lump to even the hardest of throats, whilst Some Way Some How is another yelping Pixies style fuzzy quitar led sprint. The album even closes with a storming Libertines-style punky number (Circus). Twelve tracks all told, every one a gem, every one a potential single. A work of genius. And not a cowboy in sight.

That Matt Pelham and his crazy trademark tank tops...

I never heard the Pixies comparison. I'll have to think about that...

he forgot to mention that Rollum looks like a frat boy...where do they come up with this shit? excellent review though!

Apparently Matt's wearing stuff sort of like that when he plays in the UK. The reviewer is basing that observation off the live shows he's seen (according to some folks I've asked).

I'm carl and i suck.

(Edited by Keith at 6:51 pm on Aug. 21, 2004)

Oh man, I have got to see some pics. Is this in line with the look-we're-just-hicks-from-tennessee look. I like it!

Apparently he's cutting sleeves off shirts and wearing those over other long sleeve shirts. So it's really not tank tops. I really have to see it.

and a new fashion trend has begun

so kind of like a sweater vest but out of a tshirt?
i dont know how i feel about that.

If you look at the Million Ways video, he's wearing that ensemble...

Do I have to?

i had to look at your pearl jam tshirt yesterday

please don't...

I read the album review in Q, which was only about 3 sentences long, so I didn't buy the magazine. Anyway, they gave the album 4 of I think 5 stars, which is of course very good. I think this has been mentioned before. But yay nonetheless.

It is freakin' awesome!!! Especially when you look at the other bands and the scores they received. Yay features!!!!!

this is the Q review:

The Features
Exhibit A
**** Q Recommends
Manic new-wave quartet from Sparta, Tennessee.

Rather than hopping aboard the pop punk gravy train, The Features actually released their debut EP in 1997. It was last year's Fierce Panda single, The Beginning, that convinced Universal to stick in a bit of cash and their new label are unlikely to be disappointed with this Franz Ferdinand meets Hot Hot Heat debut. There's a scary confidence throughout.

This one is pretty funny.

From the Metro website:

the features
neatpeople

"Matt Pelham (vocals/guitar), Roger Dabbs (bass), Parrish Yaw (keyboards) and Rollum Haas (drums) are a four-piece from the backwater of Sparta, Tennessee - just up the road from the Kings of Leon, of whom the Features claim never to have heard. Already raking in acclaim for their visceral live shows, the band are taking the teime-honoured route to credibility - and, after a suitable pause, record sales - by releasing their British debut EP, The Beginning, through this country's most reliable finishing school/clearing house, Fierce Panda (first home to Supergrass, Coldplay, et. al).

Who do they sound like? First-album Blondie meets Sparks in a country lay-by, the resulting offspring a vocal hybrid of Pete Shelley, lifted John and Jarvis Cocker, and musically a genetic experiment involving the Pistols, Blur, Pulp, the Coral and the poppier Mick Jones end of the Clash - in other words, Hot Hot Heat with greater charm and better songs. Looks-wise, Dabbs demands a second take, his bushy beard and unkempt locks more evocative of the film Deliverance than of twanging the bass in a hotly tipped garage-rock band.The Sunday Times



metro
edit: (the full review is already in the Press section on the board...I just thought it was funny they left the Deliverance reference in there for the upcoming show info)

(Edited by mindylieu at 10:25 pm on Aug. 29, 2004)

Nashvillezine has posted a review:

http://nashvillezine.com/archives/000956.html

nashvillezine review

"Like most rock albums with more than 10 tracks, the Features hyper playing begins to exhaust the listener after 25 minutes or so. Having so many great songs early in the record -- "Exhibit A," "That's the Way It's Meant to Be," "Me and the Skirts," "Leave It All Behind" -- also drains a bit of the energy out of the end. One's tempted to keep repeating the first six tracks."

--- I disagree with this paragraph big time. I actually prefer the the last half of the cd more than the first. Even if you were "exhausted" by the first part of the cd, Circus is so amazingly awesome that you'll never get sick of it.

All in all though, a good review.

not very interesting, but mentionable

http://tennessean.com/entertainment/music/...ots/index.shtml

allmusic.com's review. Pretty good.

Kudos to Carl.

The Nashville Scene's review can be found here.

Just in case that link is different after this week, here's the review:

The Genuine Article
Area pop-rockers The Features release their major label debut
By Tracy Moore

Listening to the influences that converge on The Features' new Exhibit A—everything from pop, rock and disco, to surf, new wave and punk—reminds me of a guy I knew in junior high who had over 400 records. He inherited the collection from his father, and it filled almost half of his tiny bedroom. Meticulously chosen and alphabetized, the albums spanned the history of rock. Not only was I struck by the vastness of the collection—which seemed to contain every rock touchstone since the '50s—but I found it difficult to imagine how any new records would make the cut.


It's easy, though, to imagine The Features poring over such a record collection during their youths, discarding bits and pieces until they were satisfied with the remainder; they've achieved something similar with their major label debut. Exhibit A packs dense, layered pop-rock textured with rollicking organs, handclaps and singer Matt Pelham's alternately tender and howling vocals into a record that spans all of 33 minutes.

The album is genre-heavy without genre hopping. It also evinces a clear commitment to the pop song, albeit slightly mangled and off balance. Guitars riff like Chuck Berry, driven by drummer Rollum Haas' manic beats. Roger Dabbs supplies the clever bass lines, while Parrish Yaw adds the whimsical, kitschy subtext with Mellotron and other vintage keyboards. Sure, there's a lot going on, and there are plenty of subtleties that don't emerge on first listen, but the chaos is tamed by the simplicity of the subject matter and by Pelham's earnest delivery.

Three members of The Features hail from Sparta, Tenn., a town, like so many across the state, so small that fighting boredom is a survival skill. Rather than run screaming, though, The Features stuck it out and used the time to channel their frustrations into music. By the time they started playing The Boro in the mid-'90s, the basic elements of their sound were there: catchy choruses, quirky keyboards, infectious beats. There even were some synchronized moves and the occasional Hawaiian shirt.

Instantly welcomed into the Murfreesboro music scene, The Features never failed to draw the cool kids and college girls in tank tops who seemed to know all the words. Things really haven't changed much: they dropped the moves, lost the guy with the Hawaiian shirt, brought in one of the best drummers in town and signed a record deal with Universal. The college girls are still turning up in droves.

What has changed is that they finally have managed to pin down their elusive sound. Always too smart to be straight rock and never straightforward enough to be pure pop, The Features instead have chosen to make camp at the crossroads, favoring at last a deft commingling of their earlier incarnations and lyrical content. Pelham has always written lots of love songs, and he's also shown evidence ofÊa sillier side. On this record, though, the recent addition of twin daughters to his life has greatly colored the lens through which he views both the world and a pop song. (It's long been said that guys get into rock for the girls, but it's doubtful these are the girls Pelham had in mind.)

Exhibit A is rife with insights into first-time fatherhood, relationships and affection for the simple things in life, all without pretense. One of the record's gems, "The Way It's Meant to Be," has Pelham professing his adoration for his twins, right down to the monograms on their clothes. Already out as a single in the U.K., the recording takes a simple garage-rock hook, ferocious drums and frantic organs andÊadds the gleeful, irony-free assertion that fatherhood is a wondrous thing: "Call a doctor, call a king, someone should witness all the joy that you bring!"

In "Me and the Skirts," Pelham discovers parallels between his daughters' first experiences and his own temperament, offset by a dizzyingly protean tempo that shifts from chaotic to trotting to raucous in a matter of seconds. The arrangement kicks off like many a good rock record, with high energy, and yet The Features also know when to take a breather, as in "Blow It Out" and "The Idea of Growing Old." The first is an infectious reflection on the catharsis to be found in solitude, a guitar and an amp. The latter, which is reminiscent in feel and tone to John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," muses sweetly about the comfort of aging with someone with whom you simply can be.

Where so many of their contemporaries just rehash their influences, The Features deliver a mix of familiar textures in a way that seems new. They've spent more than a decade taming their juxtaposition of styles with discipline and restraint, something that just might secure them a place in a future index of rock history. Plus, domesticity never sounded so cool.

Great job, Tracy!!

But what about their stage banter, Tracy?

The Features received a 3 star review in the new Blender. I can't find the link yet. I never usually read Blender. Really.

http://www.rocknworld.com/features/2004/features.shtml

The Features are a quirky pop rock band that has been drawing comparisons between Iggy and The Stooges to Elvis Costello. The band’s name may even be a nod to Costello’s band, The Attractions. Exhibit A is the first full-length release from The Features following the U.S release of The Beginning EP earlier this year.

It is not too easy to describe The Features sound; they are a garage band with new wave and pop influences. The Features are a much better band than that description would warrant. They have a knack for finely crafted songs that are just weird enough to be interesting and new.

Every track is upbeat, full of catchy riffs and goofy lyrics. For example the song “Blow it Out” and its chorus of “If you’re happy and you know it, turn the volume up and blow it.” Ridiculous, expect it to be stuck in your head for days.

Mathew Pelham is the principle lyricist, vocalist and guitars. Pelham’s guitar lays down the ground work for the songs that feature melodies from the vintage and new keyboards of Parrish Yaw. Rollum Haas is the drummer and does some great work on this album. Whatever happened to having a stage name? What crowd is going to chant “Parrish, Parrish!?”

The title track leads off the album with thumping drums and the prototypical garage rock guitar. The keyboards blend in to this track but are very noticeable throughout the rest of the album. The following 11 songs are full of riffs, keyboard lines, and drum beats that on their own are interesting but come together in a sound that is very good, like a musical salsa.

The garage-rock revival, depending on who you talk to, has been deemed a blessing or a curse. IF it means that bands like The Features get a chance to show what they’ve got, then putting up with the bad is worth it. Exhibit A is chock full of fun, catchy rock and roll that is just different enough to be exciting.

Exhibit A is the perfect debut album. Good enough to give the band a chance to make another record but it doesn’t set the expectations in the stratosphere. Expect them to get better with each album.






CD Info

The Features – Exhibit A
Label: Universal Records
Rating: ***

*double post

(Edited by joeywade at 12:24 am on Sep. 17, 2004)

I wasn't aware that EC created the whole "The _________s" trend.

Great review otherwise!

I think the reviewer was referring to the fact that "features" and "attractions", though not synonyms per se, can mean similar things given the right context.

(Edited by Ceeze at 9:47 am on Sep. 17, 2004)

Nevermind...Ceeze beat me to it....

What?? Nothing about the bass player??? And I think "Parrish! Parrish!" is very catchy!!!

(Edited by mindylieu at 10:50 am on Sep. 17, 2004)

THE FEATURES
EXHIBIT A
Label:
UNIVERSAL
Rating: **** Submitted: 13/09/2004
Reviewer: Alan Sargeant
www: http://www.thefeatures.com


You and I both know that February’s The Beginning EP promised and delivered more than we ever thought possible and that the dazzling, groovy coloured video which accompanied the kick-ass, razor cut single ‘That’s The Way It’s Meant To Be’ fulfilled every one of our crazy, psychedelic dreams. On top of bands like Hot Hot Heat, Stellastarr*, Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines we didn’t feel we really deserve another fiery little star trail sailing over our burgeoning rock firmament. But you don’t always get what you deserve. And that’s not always a bad thing.

Matt Pelham and the boys may have disposed of the endearing psychedelic whimsy of tracks like ‘Bumble Bee’ and ‘Two By Two’ but they haven’t disposed of the infectious, exuberant psychotic nuttiness of it all with title track ‘Exhibit A’ providing incontrovertible evidence of a broad, belligerent arsenal of custom-built tricks. Calling up everyone from 70s glam freaks Sparks to The New York Dolls, ‘Exhibit A’ is a blistering opening move from which most bands would fail to recover, but not so The Features. No sooner has the thrashing swirl of guitars and kooky Hammond organ breaks come to an abrupt and premature end than the fuzzy insistence of ‘That’s The Way It’s Meant To Be’ kicks in. Breakneck pop performed at breakneck speed, clocking up no more four full minutes for both of them. The only slowing of the pace comes with track 8 of the album, ‘Idea Of Growing Old’ – a timely reminder that once the anger has passed and the amps have fused there’s another Flaming Lips ready to oil our more peculiar fancies in another five years time.

Angular, schizoid and buzzing with enough static to light a Christmas tree, ‘Exhibit A’ is as short and sharp a shock as you’d expect from plug and play rock at its most direct.

Link

Great review! Pretty cool the ep was given 5 stars!

Last night I had a funny dream that the band was playing "blow it out" and it kept fading out. Rollum got pissed and yelled at the sound guy, so the whole band walked off stage. I started chanting "Parrish! Parrish!" I think it stemmed from the rocknworld review.

I might use the term "psychedelic whimsy" to describe the Features, but not on either of those songs....

I read the review...it was weird. It was like they liked the album, but wouldn't admit to liking the album.

The did mention "future frat-anthem 'Blow it Out," though. I didn't know frat boys gathered 'round the record player to listen to peppy tunes from days gone by.

Not an external review, but mine:

It is hard to be objective when you evaluate an album full of material you've been familiar with for years. This is an inescapable truth, and the central problem of this review. I love this band too much to say ill of it, but I also know this material too well, and have heard it too much in the flesh to be entirely satisfied. Somewhere in the middle, one can find my feelings for The Features' "Exhibit A." But where in that yawning middle ground are my feelings?

I first heard The Features on their debut EP, when it was released in 1997. I'd recently moved away from Nashville, and with it I'd abandoned the music scene I'd just begun to discover. Spongebath Records' Self was my new favorite band, and on that basis I decided to buy all of their catalogue (at the time three recordings) when I went to Nashville to visit family. Self's Half-Baked Serenade was the record I had sought out in that bunch, and the one I expected to love most, but it was The Features EP that had the most staying power. I fell in love. Over the years, I did all I could to collect what recordings I could. I saw them live at every possible opportunity after first seeing them in 2002. This band stuck with me.

Discovering the band live was something amazing, something magical. The interplay of the four members and the intimacy of most of the venues unlocked some infectious alchemy that the early recordings seemed to lack; the songs were different, cut from the same cloth, but by a different pattern. The band that I had discovered, "Features Live", was totally different from the band I had come to see, "Features Recorded." I liked the new one better.

I take this long, historical detour to highlight the paradox that is "Exhibit A" for me: I loved "Live Features" and I loved "new Features." While I necessarily viewed these two as the same, this record is latter but not the prior. And that isn't a bad thing.

Intangible are the sources of most of my complaints: the energy isn't entirely there when I listen, yet when I make a point to look for it, it is. The mixes seem to reveal more that the live setting ever did, particularly with regards to Parrish Yaw's keyboards, which I feel are central to defining the band's sound. Matt Pelham's vocals, likewise, come in more clearly than ever, and the tension in his voice, the sheer performative nature of the vocals, really sets The Features apart from most of the bands they seem to be compared to. So what do I have to complain about?

I took a week away from the new record so that I could listen again, allowing a temporal distance to give me new eyes (and ears) for the material, this time untainted by expectations and binge-listening in anticipation of the record. And I found the band I love playing the songs I love as well as they ever have. "Circus," long my favorite song of theirs, has finally been captured as it should be heard (luckily maintaining the ambiguity of a certain lyric). The sheer intensity of that recording alone should have given me what I needed to appreciate this record: "Harder to Ignore," "Situation Gone Bad," and "Me and the Skirts" likewise offer more here than one could reasonably ask for. So what was I looking for?

Spoiled by seeing this band live, I was looking for the feeling of standing toward the front of the Blue Cats, close enough to spit on the members, enjoying the way they put shame to Ingram Hill that preceded them, and enjoying the encore the audience forced them into. I was looking for an outstandingly high energy show emphasized by the spastic dancers in my adopted city. I was looking for all the things that make a Features show that isn't even The Features. What I've realized is that what they've given me is just as good, if not better, but different.

Will

This isn't a review, but the album was on my opening page of CD Now/Amazon this morning. I know they do a thing where they base what's on that page by things you've looked at that's kind of the same genre. Just thought I'd bring it up.

Very nice, Will. I'm still collecting my thoughts and will eventually put a review of my own here. But I could never hope to be as eloquent as you. I miss you being here.

Awww, I'm getting teary. Seriously. I miss being here too, and now that I have *some* access outside of work, I'll start posting again. I'll have a full-blown return at the proper time. Like when I get my computer. I eagarly await the review of someone thanked in the liner notes. More to the point, of someone who had the power to get "Harold" played at said Blue Cats show just by asking. More to the point, your review, jamie. More to the point, is "teary" really spelled that way? I can't imagine it is spelled differently, but damn does it look like a word I've never seen commited to type.

Will

This is from Popmatters.com. Hope somebody didn't beat me to it.

In 2003, the Features got their break when UK label Fierce Panda released their EP The Beginning. Early this year, the disc finally got stateside release with a bonus track. The six tracks on that release showed a band full of energy, aggressive, and just a little strange. Those elements usually make for a good mix, and it was no different with the Features. Their hooks made them catchy, and their quirks made them distinctive. It's only been half a year, but the group is back with a full-length, Exhibit A (these guys are nothing if not literal in their CD titles). When the Features stick to the formula that worked so well on the EP, they're as hot as it gets, but when the clean things up and hide their weirdness, they're just another throwback band that's fun but nothing special. The scales tip slightly in the band's favor, but not enough.

When the album opens, it sounds like we're in for another success. "Exhibit A" has a nice mix of distorted guitar and retro organ, giving the band a '60s-garage edge without letting them sound too derivative. The Features come across like a Tennessee version of the Coral, but without the genre exploration. Vocalist Matt Pelham sounds, as he does throughout the disc, like he's just on the edge. He's the guy always about to do something crazy, but never quite bursting through. The group keeps this edge on for three songs, peaking with the psychedlic "Me & the Skirts", in which the drums provide nice fills among a groovy bassline. The organ throws out its best little lines of the album, and the Features have the perfect club sound down pat. And then they lose it.

On "Blow It Out", the band sounds too polished. This song gives a major nod to AOR radio in what sounds like an attempt at a commercial hit. It's a frustrating artistic decision, but it also seems like a poor commercial choice when the group should be leaning more toward recent critical successes Franz Ferdinand or the Zutons. Pelham's voice undergoes a change, too, as he drifts into Adam Duritz territory, which is a bad fit for the music that these guys produce so recklessly most of the time. Almost as if the band read my mind, their next track and first single "There's a Million Ways to Sing the Blues" is a Franzian dance-rock number that shows the Features' disco influences. The track lacks the oddness and assertiveness of the group's best numbers, but it is a step up from "Blow It Out", helping to keep the album exciting.

The rest of the album proceeds with a similar pattern: few oddball songs that could be updates on the Zombies and a few interruptions from bland, radio-friendly material. It's frustrating to listen to a band that rages against demons in one song ("Exorcising Demons", of course) stumble into formulaic rock on another. The album's greatest lyrical twist actually plays off this tension beautifully. The downtempo, clubbish "The Idea of Growing Old" examines the title concept in a positive notion. Pelham sings to a lover who makes him feel good about growing old. He's pleased that they "can settle down for an afternoon nap". It might sound cheesy, but there's no hint of treacle or cliche in the Features' delivery. The band restrains itself without losing energy and the honest expression in a chaotic album strikes forcefully. Then they stumble into a vacant song about never letting someone down that's as musically dry as its lyrics.

The Features too often stray away from the idiosyncracies that made their first release so intriguing. Fans of The Beginning might be disappointed in the lack of uniqueness, but they shouldn't be dissatisfied in with the album as a whole. The band falters at times, but they never stay down. Exhibit A should be used as evidence in the defense of their original sound, and as a source of hope for the rest of us that they stick with it.

— 6 October 2004

Can I be the first to announce....The Features have arrived.

Evidence: Reviewed here, the Onion AV Club:

The Tennessee teenagers in The Features drew national interest with a 1997 debut EP that riffed on new wave five years before it became fashionable again. The band essentially broke up and re-formed as an Elephant 6-style collective at the start of the new millennium, self-releasing the EP The Beginning, a sweet song-cycle about the newborn twin sons of bandleader Matt Pelham. Last year, the EP and a couple of new singles were picked up by the U.K.'s Fierce Panda label and became a sensation overseas, prompting Universal to sign The Features and release its debut album, Exhibit A, nearly eight years after the group formed.

Over that time, The Features' members have evolved again, this time into rowdy, art-damaged hard rockers. Pelham shrieks and trills like a marginally cleaned-up version of Arthur Brown or Captain Beefheart, while the rest of the band lays down muscular, hooky backup on "Blow It Out" (aided by circus organ, thick power chords, and a cooing bridge), the upwardly marching "Leave It All Behind" (with its snaky keyboard-guitar backdrop), and the sweetly ferocious "Someway, Somehow" (which could almost be a power ballad if it didn't barrel away at 100 miles per hour).

On paper, The Features seems like another riff-happy buzz band, in line with Jet or Phantom Planet. But Exhibit A has a rougher edge: It's louder and less controlled than it has to be. The group's frenzy is typified by "The Way It's Meant To Be," which starts off with a burst of feedback and a dirty, handclap-punctuated groove, sounding like Led Zeppelin covering Tommy James & The Shondells. Then a squiggly organ kicks in and Pelham's obsessed lyrics begin to edge the song deep into disquiet. By the time the first chorus finishes, the band's performance has collapsed into exultant, pulse-pounding noise. When "The Way It's Meant To Be" ends after two riotous minutes, its title lingers as an affirmation. —Noel Murray

that is freakin' awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lovely review...and all the more encouraging for our boys!

Magnet Oct/Nov 2004
Features
Exhibit A
Pop connoisseurs will have a riot with the Features, yet another candidate for the "derivative or well-influenced?" debate. The debut LP from this Sparta,Tenn., four-some is overflowing with familiar reference points: the Buzzcocks' adolescent energy, the Attractions' new-wave shakedowns (minus Elvis Costello's subtlety), a Spoon-like adoration of the Kinks' meanest hooks and a frontman whose vocals bear an unnerving resemblance to a Southern-born Roger Daltrey. After the U.K. press embraced the Features' The Beginning EP earlier this year, the group was quickly snatched up by a major label. Although nothing on Exhibit A is particularly innovative, it possesses enough sincerity to transcend all criticism. The Features crack up with childlike excitement on every song; the joyous energy is most obvious in the sunny organ bounce, the fullness of the power chords, and the passionate vocal enunciation. You can just imagine the Features in some basement, shredding the crap out of their guitars and flailing around ridiculously, using their entire lung capacities to sing every "whoa-oa-oa" chorus. In the end, Exhibit A turns out to be more infectious than affected. -Natalie Jacobs

welcome to the board, graham!

That's a new one. Hmmm... I think I like it.

Indeed. Very interesting review you posted too.

"More infectious than affected." I like that, Natalie Jacobs

Bowery Ballroom fan account

special appearance by roadie in the picture of Roger

(Edited by richarddawson at 2:04 pm on Oct. 15, 2004)

Sounds familiar:

"Yesterday's show was really cool except there was a drunk there who was bumping into people and he kept hitting this chick's head with his head whenever he was head banging. If he touched me, I was ready to deck him!!!! Also I was was moving a little to the side, hoping his head would hit the monitor "

Sorry that I suck, guys. I'm behind on the board, and I wasn't paying much attention last night. Anyway, here's the link again if you want to read it.


Review

Three Imaginary Girls Review


The Features have hit well with what is likely Seattle's biggest bit of indie-pop press.

I'm glad the pirate theme is working out for them, then.

and what about Roger? My husband and I both agree that he is awesome. Why does he not get mentioned more. He is incredible!

Too bad it's lame.

Because he's too far down in the mix on the CD. That's my (non-Features fanatic) husband's main complaint about the recording. His parts are integral to the songs- GIVE US MORE ROGER!!!

It's bass. Who cares?

i've actually been pretty happy with the mix on the record... i think everything sounds pretty good.

although, being a bass player myself, a little more bass never hurts. (such great basslines, though!! seriously... i love em. 'me and the skirts' in particular!)

I couldn't agree more.

I wonder if anyone in the band has a genuine fixation with pirates or if they just felt like they needed some kind of angle to get people talking.

I agree with Carl though. It kind of taints their music for me. But as long as they don't start working the pirate theme into their lyrics, I think we'll be all right.

beats a viking theme.
well for them anyway.

i wouldve rather seen a stone'enge theme.

Has anyone here every played the board game Cranium? Quite fun...especially when you're way drunk off Jack Daniels. Anyway, once one of my competitors had to sculpt Stonehenge out of clay. It was pretty challenging to say the least. And pretty funny.

Sorry, that seemed relevant when I started typing it.

Umm...Go Features...Arghh.

oh my god cranium is my least favorite game. there are way too many rules and it is NOT fun when everyone is drunk and you are trying to play the game fairly. i had to wrestle with a friend of mine on her birthday because i was convinced that she was cheating (please refrain from adding your own jokes here, thanks).

cranium brings out the worst in me.

So do buttons and ringtones...


(Edited by joeywade at 3:20 am on Dec. 30, 2004)

It does have quite a few rules.

This year Cranium was replaced by the 90s version of Trivial Pursuit. I thought I would be awesome at it, but it turns out I'm pretty clueless about all decades. I just need to play a whole bunch and memorize all the answers, I guess.

Here's the Amazon UK review


(Edited by ladytron at 1:43 pm on Jan. 24, 2005)

It's funny how some reviews see TIOGO as the highlight while others see it as the lowlight.

I don't understand the hate for LIAB, though.

I also noticed they were reviewed in Relevant magazine... The short paragraph on them was ok, nothing that we haven't heard before.

We always knew the Features were relevant.

there is also a great one in Paste.

The reviewer (my boyfriend...) really likes LIAB, but he just can't understand why it was released as a single. I can see his point - I think other tracks on the album way surpass it. Me and the skirts would have been great as a single.

I totally agree.

i didn't really care for me and the skirts the first time i heard the record, but more and more it's become one of my favorite tracks on the album. i'd say anything off the first half would've made a great single, honestly.

I like Cranium.

Blogcritic show review

My dear little sister (now a Features convert!) saw the following article in last Monday's Metro*










Ok, it's quite a shitty, and factually incorrect piece, but I'm just so pleased they're starting to create a buzz!










*The paper that everyone in London reads © stopforme

you know its true

And another one from threeimaginarygirls.com...


Album Reviews: The Features "Exhibit A"
Rating scale 0-11
11 = perfect ... 0 = irredeemablely awful.
The Features — "Exhibit A" {8.5} excellent+


Located almost exactly between Nashville and Knoxville, Sparta, Tennessee is a sleepy hamlet boasting a population of 4599 and, to be candid, little else. But now this slight town has another claim to fame: The Features. This Sparta-bred band’s latest album "Exhibit A" belies the band members’ hometown origins. With a powerful mash of garage, infectious pop undertones, and desperate denim-clad rock, The Features hijack your preconceptions and brandish their pirate flag high and clear. Pirates, you ask? One look at their website and you’ll see what I’m saying.

"Exhibit A" exudes a brashness that I’m guessing can only be matched by the Features’ live set. Matt Pelham’s dirt-bright guitars bound through each track, the perfect match to his impetuously serrated vocals {imagine Jarvis Cocker if he’d been raised on a steady diet of Southern rock, 1970s punk, and bourbon on the sly}. Parrish Yaw’s keyboards surge between frenetic and steadfast, compounding the unpredictability of each song. The thunderous cavalcade of Rollum Haas’ drums steers a straight midtempo course that keeps your head bobbing nonstop. On the vibrant bouncer "Blow It Out," hints of the Features’ earlier New Wave roots bubble up through a strong current of forthright gritty pop. "The Idea of Growing Old," by far the prettiest track on the record, presents a heartfelt love song inspired by Pelham’s children.

In all, it’s a record you’ll be glad to own. So put that parrot on your shoulder, don that eye patch, and commandeer your own "Exhibit A" posthaste.
By imaginary jessica

yeah...because this album is all about...being a pirate...
whoops.

ooops sorry... someone beat me to that review on imaginarygirls.com

The display on my cd player does not work so for me there is no begining or end to the features album. I think they are all great songs.

University of Georgia's Red & Black

this is a short, but sweet, review.

"The Features are receiving radio play with the energetic first single "Blow It Out"

um, what? no.

actually they are. i know they are in nashville anyway.

But that wasn't their first single, technically.

oh ok, yeah.

The Fly magazine has a brililant review in it...

'The following description would ordinarily send shivers of fear and loathing to the core of any music fan. Admittedly, it sounds terrible, but its accurate. It's actualy a good description, and one that can be justified. So here it comes. Are you ready?
'Exhibit A' is an album of short, fun, radio-friendly rock'n'pop songs. Oh dear, The Fly's going to have to work hard to turn that into a promising tag-line.
12 songs. 33minutes.Not a slow, weak or questionable track in sight. Every track is a potential single. This'll have you waving your hands in the air, wiggling your fat arse, grinning gormlessly, singing the catchy chorses with wild ambition. Every track here, you see, is a short burst of loud, proud, uplifting rock. It's fast-paced, with edgy guitars, and the melodies and choruses soar on the cloud of hyperbole this review is rapidly producing.
The Features recorded 'Exhibit A' back home in Tennesse (with Trail of the Dead producer Mike McCarthy - Trail of Dead obsessed ed), seemingly ages ago in early 2004. Record company shenanigans led to it only now seeing the light of day, but its been worth the wait. 2005 is set to do for the Features what 2004 did for the likes of The Killers.
So you dont like ''short fun radio-friendly rock'n'pop songs'', huh? How about: ''Its hard to imagine anyone not liking this''

4.5 out of 5''

-well i thought that was a brilliant review...this magazine also had an interview in too...

an interview with the band? awesome... post it, if you dont mind typing it all?

that's a great review.

NME (new music express) review...

The Features
Exhibit A
Temptation
'Softhearted, paternal indie rock from Spartan vets'
The Features' Matt Pelham is a man as adept at changing a nappy as he is at replacing a guitar string. Throughout Exhibit A, he sings about his twin daughters with devout passion and awestruck wonder. Frankly, parenting has rarely sounded so thrillingly rock n'roll. Thats the way its meant to be
sounds like Elvis Costello falling over The Buzzcocks in a frantic trollydash around Mothercare, while the excellently named Parrish Yaw eschews any notions of nauseating chintz with a low frequency synth rumble. Elsewhere, 'The Idea of growing old' sees Pelham sing of domesticated bliss with a sentimental spark in his heart. Whilst NME is happy to keep the contraception at hand for a good while longer, Exhibit A is a broody bundle of soppy indie rock fun.


A good review non?! It got 8/10 which is a very high rating for NME to give... well... so it should do

NME is the new music express in the UK by the way for all you guys in america, and is the main good music magazine here.

Never thought about this before... but those twins are going to have the coolest dad ever

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

Theres doing it for the kids and then, literally, doing it for the kids. Matt Pelham, the softly-spoken and considwered frontman of The Features, is sitting in a restaurant on Canal Street, New Orleans' epicentre of bourbon, seafood and strip clubs, and he's not enjoying the distance between him and his twin daughters. "Yeah, i miss them terribly", he says in his slow, Tennesse drawl, "but i can't bring them on tour. I wouldn't want them to have to go through the things you go through on tour." Well, slap me silly and call me Dierdre. A frontman with - gulp! - responsibilty. the Features just arent like other bands. There's no sensationalist tabloid-shaggin headlines needed here, this is just good ol'fashioned, mechanical rock'n'roll. "We're unremarkable guysm none of us have any hidden drug habits, y'know?" continues Pelham, blowing more holes in the Rock Cliche Rulebook than a military Spinal Tap. If you wish for any glamourous misconceptions about being in a band to be upheld, look away now. becasuse whilst bands like The Glitterati would rather spend a life picking up royalty cheques for record sales that are in minus figures, Matt Pelham still wished he had his old job back. "Just before we started this Kings of Leon tour, in October, I quit . It's not that i'm really still able to give up my job, but i have to. I'd kind of prefer to be working just so my family can have a little more. I got really lucky on my job, my employer, he knew i was in a band and we played quiote a bit, he'd let me off pretty much anytime i want, and let me back afterwards. I got to the point where it wasn't fair to him anymore".
The Features are a fuck you to all those pig-headed, riff-retarded, groupie-bobbing myths. They might be on tour with their Southern shag-any-crevice counterparts Kings of Leon, but any link between the two starts and stops there. The Features talk about lives that you can relate to. Like this, when Matt is apologising for his sparse response in a previous Fly interview over the phone: "I used to do my interviews on my lunchbreak all the time. I'd have an hour in between seeing my family for a few minutes, eating my much, then i'd do an interview." can't really imagine Caleb fron Kings of Leon explaining how he's gonna have to cut the interviews short to get back to the afternoon shift, can you? Bands usually like to hide the harsh realities of not having sold any records yet, but The features are as honest and upfront as the music they make.
their transformation onstage is remarkable. Pelham turns from polite to possessed, laughing like an AK47-toting madman as he spits his way through psycho-hillbilly classics-in-waiting like "Harder to Ignore" (try to argue with him as he unleashes a brutal 'You might think i'm crazy/you might think i'm out of my miiiind!'), 'Theres a million ways to sing the Blues' and their debut album's rambaging title track, 'Exhibit A'.
Buried beneath the collision of swirling Wurlitzer's and blues-punk licks the insular beginnings of band who only formed because there aws nothing better to do in their homevillage of Sparta. 'I think the only thing that did in as far as influencing the band is that it gave us something to do. instead of cruising around and getting drunk, or whatever, we played music. Apart from that, i dont think musically it had a lot to dow ith us." Sparta, you see, is not what you would call a hotbed of new music, "In as far as what i exposed to," continues Matt, "musically mostly came from hearing my dads records or the classic rock station broadcast out of Nashville, so i really grew up listening to a lot of older rock stuff. It wasn't untill college when i sort of got to grips with what was going on in independent music, which, at that time, was Pavement and a lot of the Matador bands were coming through. Apart from that, i guess MTV, which didnt make it to Sparta untill '89, which is really late compared to most places. The only place to buy music was Wal-Mart". New music! supplied by ASDA! ARGHHHH
"Kids in teh UK really do seem to gravitate towards rock music, y'know," Matt shrugs, "probably more than they do in the States. Especially in rural areas, I think most kids end up hearing whats on commercial mainstreem radio, which is things like Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears. Until most kids go to college, you dont really get exposure to bands."
Rollum Haas, the bands babyfaced and even-stronger accented drummer, chips in. "You really have to go out of your way to look for (rock music). we have the Now That's What I Call Music compliations. It's weird cos music is something im precious about, and then seeing it as this disposable commodity is like ARGHHH! It's so personal to me, but if thats their own opinions, then..." "Sure, everyone's a little bit to blame." nods Matt, "but in Sparta, there is nothing else. You hear mainstream radio or classic rock radio and thats all they get".
Coming to the UK and seeing people shaking their booties to guitar music was a bit of a shock to the system, then 'thats one thing you get in the UK that you dont get over here, people dancing to rock music." says Rollum, "you dont really have that culture over here. All the dance clubs over here play (does mock drum'n'bass sounds)." Matt nods, "I like that, cos we played acouple of university shows and usually after the show you'll have a DJ come in and play music and everyone who was at the show will start dancing to The Jam, or whatever. It's pleasing to see, a little reassuring"
As we walk to The House of Blues, where the band will perform later on, Matt looks a little uncomfortable at the mass frat-party going on in the new Orleans streets. "This really isnt mys ort of thing." he says, concluding, "Y'know, we're four awkward guys who've known each other too well for too long." Awkward, and soon to be vital.

(IM SORRY FOR ANY SPEELING OR GRAMMER PROBLEMS. i DONT HAVE THE TIME TO RE-READ THE WHOLE THING...IMA LITTLE TIRED TO BE HONEST)

interview to be found in April 2005's issue of the Fly magazine. Found in the north east of england.

Thanks for typing that up, its a really cool article.

Poor Matt, missing his girls! But I never really thought he had a Tennessee drawl....maybe cos I'm from TN too

That's the funniest thing I've ever read about KOL but seems to be absolutely true.

And it is great to watch Matt transform from barely mumbling a "thank you" between songs to a full out rock star once the next song begins.

Hey, morag.

That is one hell of an article...really good stuff...really seems to describe The Features a lot better than a lot of what I've read. Thanks so much for posting it here!

its no problemo....

ive got to agree on that description for KOL, its totally right...

And wow!..Im going to be seeing the Features in matter of hours!!!

Definitely a big thanks. I thought that was a great interview. I'm glad that the humble personalities made it into print. Because these are just damn nice guys doing damn good music.

Freddy

I don't think this one has been posted:


The Features – 'Exhibit A' (Temptation Records) Released 18/04/05

by Matt Tucker More Indie Articles...




Exhibit A is the debut album from Tennessee-rockers The Features, stirring up a brief but lethal shot of quirky psychedelic pop rock.

The album opens with the self titled album track ‘Exhibit A’, which epitomises what the The Features are about. Quirky up-tempo verses are combined with searing choruses, crafted with a mix of garage rock guitar riffs, edgy vocals, and retro organ melodies. The album then continues a common theme, meandering between instant pop numbers to darker psychedelic tracks.

The Features are like The Coral with a high voltage cable running through their spines. Their songs are played with such energy, emphasised by lead singer Mathew Pelham, giving you the feeling that The Features may actually explode any second. The band certainly have potential, with the ability to appeal to both its underground garage rock followers, as well as its mainstream commercial onlookers. Latest single ‘Blow It Out’ perfectly demonstrates this, with a chorus so catchy that it will stick in your head for hours whether you like it or not, as Pelham screams the compulsively addictive lyrics “Well if your happy and you know, turn the volume up, and blow it out”.

However, if you are still sitting on the fence, unsure if this is all The Features have in their locker, then you will be pleasantly surprised. The band continues to deliver instant pop rock hits, including the mind-blowing ‘Leave it all behind’, as it pulsates with psychedelic organ melodies. A more sentimental facet of The Features is also revealed with the wonderful ‘The idea of growing old’, showing that the band can provide more intense lyrics whilst still maintain their rapid bursts of energetic pop rock.

At only 32 minutes long, some may feel slightly short changed, however the bands sound would not be right if their songs were any longer, and it is this instantaneous energy that make The Features worth listening to – a solid debut.


here is the website

and another...


The Features
Exhibit A
When I first placed this CD into my player I was expecting half-assed retro/indie Rock. Following on from the successes of such bands as the edgy and quirke Killers together with Franz whilst adding some slight over dubs of dark eighties electro and rocking riffs, I was pleasantly surprised with the Features.

It’s a player and by that I mean it is a ‘more times I listen to it, the more I love it’ type of record. 12 songs in just 33 minutes are going to please me, that’s how I like it short and sweet. No songs are played out and no songs outstay my welcoming ears.




The howl singer Matthew Pelham has on the first song ‘Exhibit A’ congers up memories of Robert Plant on the mighty Immigrant Song mixed with Robert Smith’s style of lullaby crooning. It instantly comes across as a more accessible and instant Sub-Pope Modest Mouse. Intense yelping on other numbers together with catchy guitar riffs similar to the more jazzy Queens Of The Stone Age numbers is excellent.

Some songs such as ‘Blow It Out’ and ‘Someway, Somehow’ almost have a Weezer style pop element about them. Strong song structure with awesome tap your feet choruses make this a sure fire hit with the indie kids. I have to say this is some of the best new music I have heard in along time, BUY IT NOW




here is where i found it

i know i keep posting reviews, but isn't that a good thing??? i have found sooo many great reviews! yay!


The Features - Exhibit A

Label: Universal
Released: 18/04/05
Rating: (4 out of 5)

At last it's finally here. The debut LP from Tennessee-based The Features struggled to the shelves; record company shenanigans holding it back for months on end. Better late than never? Yes. 'Exhibit A' will challenge anyone to dislike it. Twelve songs in a swift thirty three minutes won't give the most impatient listener a chance to get bored.

The bluesy thrash of 'The Way It's Meant To Be', of which vocalist Matt Pelham's twin daughters are the subject could have been a cheesy, twee affair, but instead we get no holds barred rock n' roll. A heavy guitar and hand-clap intro lead to tight as ever drums, circus like keyboards make this the obvious stand out track. That's not to suggest the album doesn't have more; current single 'Blow It Out' is the happiest tune this year yet. Most will struggle not to sing along.

'The Idea Of Growing Old' brings a lower tempo - again the subject is family. It's also the weakest track, nothing more than 'nice' and hardly memorable. One bad track out of eleven isn't bad however, and 'Exorcising Demons' with its wonky, funky bass, heavy keyboards and quivering, angry vocals shows just how energetic they can be. The Features can also do anthemic - 'Leave It All Behind' challenging even the most hard faced music fan to stop singing along.

With closing track 'Circus' encompassing a buzz-saw intro, honky tonk beat and scream in addition to the now trademark keyboards, we're taken out on a high. 'Exhibit A' is evidence that The Features are impossible to hate. They have a natural talent for creating instantly accessible, danceable, simply wonderful rock n' roll music.




website

Here's a review that no one has posted yet ->

Musicbox-Online.com

Lead singer Matthew Pelham sounds like a cross between Robert Plant and The Cure’s Robert Smith...

ha! never really thought about it like that...

if this hasnt been mentioned before, there's a review of the album in the latest issue of mojo....

4/5 is what they gave it

If you are bored and want to be slightly amused, it is fun to google "musik the features exhibit a" and translate the page...I found this to be my favorite title translation: "situation of gone bath"
sounds like a possible deatures title.

here is where I found "situation of gone bath"

One of many reviews out there...


here ya go

I included it because of the first sentence-hahaha. I am sure there are lots of Killers fans here, but I just don't get it. I was walking around Music Midtown while they were playing and overheard a guy saying "No wonder they only have a few singles." word.

For me, the highlight (or the only light) of the Killers' Midtown set was watching a guy pee in a puddle next to us while they played and then watching people walk through that puddle for the next 15 minutes.

Then we left to go to the weedfest, I mean the Tom Petty show.