Best Coast

As a founding member of Pocahaunted, Bethany Cosentino had a direct hand in that act's ability to bring together spooky drones and what can best be called "outsider funk." In 2009, she parted ways with the band and began to write the kind of sunny pop songs heard on Best...

By Tom Murphy

October 27, 2010

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As a founding member of Pocahaunted, Bethany Cosentino had a direct hand in that act's ability to bring together spooky drones and what can best be called "outsider funk." In 2009, she parted ways with the band and began to write the kind of sunny pop songs heard on Best Coast's debut, Crazy for You. With the spate of acts rediscovering the Beach Boys and Phil Spector these days, Best Coast might be dismissed as following a trend. But Cosentino and her bandmates can really play, and while most of the act's songs are about romance and longing, they are refreshingly free of the fashionable kitsch and irony rampant in a lot of modern music.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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