Blog > Title: Lost Classics: Elkland - Golden

The other day I opened my very overpriced Issue of Spin Magazine, the issue with naked pictures of Wayne Coyne, really. Anyway, in the middle of the page titled “hot right now” or something, there was an old familiar face.

That face was Jonathan Pierce.

You see, on one magical evening in the fall of 2003, Eastern University, the school I was attending at the time, hosted a concert in the first floor lounge of my dorm. The headlining band was Cool Hand Luke, but the openers, playing under the light of my desk lamp, were a young Sony signed band yet unknown to me:

That band was Elkland, and they became the rage of indie set at Eastern that year after their brand of new wave pop got the whole party dancing that evening. Two years later, in Chicago, I happened across their full length album in a Virgin megastore. The same day I bought the Wilco classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the thing I couldn’t keep out of my stereo was this sentimental, emotionally open, hook-laced, synth driven pop record.  Right around this same time, The Killers and The Bravery were all over rock radio, but somehow this total gem missed the pop charts.  Hindered by a program which wouldn’t allow it to be played in standard audio players, and prevented file saving or sharing, this album was heard by few. But speaking for myself and a few others, we couldn’t shut it off.

Shortly there after, the newsfeed on the band’s Myspace informed me that Elkland would be no more. Crushing my hopes for a sequel to this closet classic. But two weeks ago, all that changed, from the pages of my overpriced music rag, I discovered that Jonathan has formed a new (and extremely hyped) band called the Drums. Very exciting!

But still, nothing will match the magic of the 2003 dance party, and this gem of a record that just won’t quit.

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