4ad Records
2007
Modern Tribe
About This Album
Few albums are as perfectly named as Celebration's The Modern Tribe. As sophisticated as it is wild, this is the album where the band gets to the unique heart of their music. It's more restrained than their striking, self-titled debut was, but it never sounds boring -- on the contrary, Celebration's mix of post-punk, dance-punk, soul, pop, and whatever else they feel like is a potent one; once again, it's helmed by Katrina Ford's remarkable voice. The Modern Tribe's streamlined songs allow her voice to tower even taller than it did on the band's debut, whether she's making the shimmering single "Evergreen" even more delicately beautiful, or snarling about a "wicked wayward son" on the rockabillyish rave-up "Fly the Fly." Ford's singing is even more versatile than comparisons would suggest -- she can sound like Elizabeth Fraser, Siouxsie Sioux, Nina Simone, and Polly Jean Harvey in the course of one song -- and the rest of Celebration follows suit. While it's easy to hear why the band is friends with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio (the YYYs' Nick Zinner and all of TV on the Radio appear on The Modern Tribe, and David Sitek reprises his role as producer), Celebration brings their own identity to this musical territory.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8)

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