Week of December 17, 2007
Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!!
(self-released)
Click Here To Download Stop Drop and Roll!!!
So you may be asking yourself, who on Earth are the Foxboro Hot Tubs and why are we featuring them? Well the word on the street, err Net, is that they are actually Green Day recording under an alias. About a week ago, the band popped up online with a free, downloadable EP and not much else. Though there wasn't much info about the band out there, some clues pointed in the direction of Green Day, who have done this sort of thing before. Before American Idiot's release, the band released an album on Billie Joe Armstrong's Adeline Records label under the name The Network (though they've never copped to it officially). So it is assumed that the Foxboro Hot Tubs EP is a way for the guys to blow off some steam and have some fun in the studio, while working on the long-awaited follow-up to American Idiot. But how does it sound? Essentially like Green Day, with a heavy '50s/'60s Rock N Roll influence. The vocals are slightly distorted enough to make you question if that is indeed Billie Joe singing. The title track is incredibly catchy, with a fun, hooky backing chorus of "I don't wanna go down." "Mother Mary" re-uses that good ole "Lust For Life" guitar riff and is perhaps the song where it's most obvious who the mystery singer is. Old movie sound clips appear before most of the songs as amusing intros, further adding to the '50s/'60s aesthetic. If this truly is Green Day, it's obviously just a fun little diversion while the guys are under pressure to follow up a blockbuster. But for these guys, a fun little side project is way more catchy and interesting than most bands' main output.
Review by Joey O.
Week of December 10, 2007
Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Medium Rare
(Big Rig)
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"Where'd you go?" one might ask Dicky Barrett, lead singer of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. In the past five years since their indefinite hiatus became official, Dicky has joined ranks with the Jimmy Kimmel show as an announcer and even held a brief stint as a morning radio show host in L.A. The rest of the Bosstones found themselves raising families, touring with other notable bands such as Frank Black and The Toasters, and even flying corporate jets.
Recently, the mighty ones announced their comeback in the form of six holiday shows based around the New England area. The release of Medium Rare, a collection of rarities and b-sides, will coincide with their tenth annual Hometown Throwdown in Boston. The proverbial icing on the cake, however, comes in the form of three brand new studio recordings. The album opener, "This List," is a perfect example of their trademark sound, better known as ska-core, an anthematic punk rock chorus with enough dissonance to shake a stick at. Their single for the collection, "Don't Worry Desmond Dekker," displays the Bosstones in peak physical condition, falling back on their ability to write a great pop song. This one in particular, tells the story of a lost love and reassures her that her vinyl collection had survived the unfortunate falling out. "The One With the Woes All Over It," fits within the same melodic outfit, with just enough plaid to suit it well.
Along with the three new tracks, the Bosstones have included their favorite B-sides and unreleased songs going as far back as "Chocolate Pudding," a fan favorite that was cut from 1994's Question The Answers. "The Meaning," a strong vinyl only B-side from the Pay Attention era that should have made the cut, and even "A Reason to Toast" are also included. Medium Rare (on the 'Tones resurrected Big Rig imprint) makes a wonderful holiday soundtrack for anyone making the trek to great city of Boston for the mighty mighty reunion.
Review by Rob Wilcox
Week of December 3, 2007
Carbon/Silicon - The Last Post
(Caroline)
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Prior to their memberships in two of history's most legendary punk bands, Mick Jones and Tony James were in a group called London SS. Breaking up before ever recording an album, Jones joined The 101ers' lead singer, Joe Strummer, to form The Clash, while James formed Generation X with the man who would later become Billy Idol. Both men had great success with their bands, and eventually spearheaded more adventurous projects in the 80s. Mick Jones and Tony James have reunited in recent years as Carbon/Silicon, a mostly internet-based band who have been releasing full albums and EPs for download on their website since 2003. This new project greatly reflects the more grown-up visions of the duo's later bands, Jones' Big Audio Dynamite and James' Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Beginning with a chugging rocker, "The News", The Last Post (Carbon/Silicon's first physical release) has Jones sounding as good as ever. Instantly recognizable as the voice of "Train In Vain" and "The Bottom Line," Jones' songwriting remains smart, political and playful (or all three on tracks like "The Whole Truth"). More than anything, though, is the striking similarities between Carbon/Silicon's music and that of the Joe Strummer's final project, The Mescaleros. Fusing genres was never foreign to either Jones or James, and the inflections of punk, garage, electronica and reggae makes The Last Post as immediately likeable as any of the previous work from these punk icons.
Review by Eric Schuman
Week of November 26, 2007
Puscifer - V Is For ...
(Puscifer Entertainment)
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The debut Puscifer full-length V is for ... is the darkest, nastiest release we've designated for our "CD of the Week" honor. That this project comes from the warped mind and winking eye of Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan is no surprise. The real shock is that he and his freakish friends - ranging from members of Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine to goth diva Jarboe - manage to do so with just a smattering of pure FCC unfriendliness. In fact, the biggest stars on V is for ... are metaphorical language and creepy atmosphere. The former skillfully obscures the front half of this work so it only possibly addresses dalliances with spanking ("Momma Sed"), fat women (the voice-and-drums monsterpiece "Queen B"), prostitution ("Drunk with Power"), and oral sex. The latter purposefully pushes Keenan's substantial melodic gifts to the back and the bottom; he instead focuses on sleazy growls, distorted whispers, and distant harmonies to fit into the most radio-friendly synth and drum textures ever from drone-music legend Lustmord. Even seemingly seeking forgiveness and invoking different names for God by the end of their album, Puscifer feel far less like Tool and more like Marilyn Manson without MM's often overbearing cartoonishness.
Review by Adam Blyweiss
Week of November 19, 2007
Nine Inch Nails - Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D
(Interscope)
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This might seem like a rather long review for "Just A Remix Album," but there are a ton of players and sounds involved here. Plus, in order to understand the present you have to know the past, which is this: Trent Reznor pretty much set the gold standard for the remix album, tying to every proper Nine Inch Nails studio release singles, EPs, and LP-length works full of revised NIN songs. And yet one almost wishes he would have let the most recent NIN album Year Zero stand on its own merits. It seems rather unnecessary to try to dance with shadows of that well-crafted document of art and politics, or to reconnect with meaning and context that's been obscured/replaced by extra SFX. But here we are anyway, so let's make the best of Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, shall we? Reznor revisits the Fixed formula of giving a facelift to pretty much all of the preceding release (Broken in that case), and in doing so pulls together the most consistent collection of NIN reinterpretations since Further Down the Spiral more than a decade ago.
That's not to say there aren't throwaway moments on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D. At its worst, the tribal drums and line-by-line vocal treatments on "The Warning" feel uninspired. The New French Touch overpowers the fan remix (!) of "My Violent Heart" even as it lets blog-approved studio hand Paul "Phones" Epworth turn "Capital G" into a button-pushing, bomb-dropping stormer. Elsewhere, the New Order mixes sound like modern New Order - great for the pulsing "God Given" but bad for "Zero-Sum" and the embarrassing mid-tempo dance beat behind its "Shame on us" lyrics. After the hiccups, however, there's plenty of aggro fun to be had. Ladytron and The Faint paint their recognizable electroclash patterns over "The Beginning of the End" and "Meet Your Master," respectively; listen carefully and you'll even hear Ladytron pay homage to a past NIN classic. Sudden Reznor protege Saul Williams gets all Tricky on "Survivalism" by adding buzz and hum, splitting out vocal tracks, and going half-time on percussion.
But the best (read: most challenging) NIN mix moments follow the trend of Reznor and his producers coming from deeeeeep in left field. It once transformed workaday industrial rock into brainmelting stuff like "Screaming Slave" and the Aphex Twin assemblage "At the Heart of it All." Here, Bill Laswell drops a little reggae science to turn "Vessel" into uncomfortable dub in the style of On-U Sound System. One half of The Knife cleans up and flattens out "Me, I'm Not" for 14 stunning minutes of minimal techno to make Detroit or Berlin proud. The Kronos Quartet play through a rather pretty version of "Another Version of the Truth," while master guitar manipulator Fennesz removes many of the minor keys and chord progressions from "In This Twilight" and installs an eerily beautiful My Bloody Valentine wall of sound, reinforcing this track's status as the most positive in the NIN catalog. Alongside the new Saul Williams album he helped produce and promote, Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D sets up Reznor as a tastemaker, a gatekeeper to performers and sounds the typical goth or indie kid might not recognize.
Review by Adam Blyweiss
The Killers - Sawdust
(Island)
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In a recent Billboard interview, Brandon Flowers explained that the songs on Sawdust would be mostly unfamiliar to American listeners' ears, despite the fact that almost all of the songs had been previously released. More than just a standard 'B-Sides and Rarities' collection, Sawdust tells the story of a band that is undergoing a mature makeover. While the classic Killers shouted, synth-laden tunes are quite prevalent, it's the more unexpected takes on songs that are the highlights of this compendium. Kicking off with a new song, the dirge-y "Tranquilize", Flowers trades vocals with the inimitable Lou Reed. Though the kids who declared that they "got soul" but aren't "soldier[s]" back in 2004 might appreciate the duet as much as the world enjoyed Reed's Metal Machine Music (or the countrified cover of Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town", for that matter), this doesn't seem to be much of an issue to the boys from Las Vegas. A few songs that were contributed to movie soundtracks follow, including a re-recorded version of "Move Away" and a delightfully haunting take on Joy Division's "Shadowplay". I may be a bit biased identifying my favorite song on the album as the cover of Dire Straits' "Romeo And Juliet", since it is a favorite song of mine anyway. But fear not, there are plenty of unmistakable Killers moments to go around. From the thumping bass of Sam's Town leftover "Where The White Boys Dance" to the nautical hidden track "Questions With The Captain", there really is no stopping The Killers. And look, I went a whole review without mentioning Brandon Flowers' moustache!
Review by Eric Schuman
Week of November 12, 2007
The Hives - The Black And White Album
(A&M/Octone)
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The Hives are the greatest rock n roll band around…just ask them, they'll tell you! But Howlin' Pelle Almquist's over-the-top, winking Mick Jagger-isms and the band's matching-uniform shtick wouldn't hold up if they weren't so good at tight, efficient garage rock. On The Black and White Album, the band expands their sonic horizons while still holding onto their inner Hive-ness. Instead of repeating the robotic rock of 2004's Tyrannosaurus Hives, they bring in dance and cabaret sounds and even some cheerleaders! Ubiquitous Hip-Hop producer/artist Pharrell Williams helped bring in some new musical elements, with jazzier, danceable beats on "Well All Right!" and funky disco on "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." The cheerleaders appear on the explosive "Try It Again" while "Puppet On A String" is an oddball cabaret piano ditty. There's even an instrumental track, "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors," which does feel like the music one would hear in a spooky mansion, or at least one in Super Mario Bros 3. There are plenty of classic Hives garage rock moves in here as well, but the band definitely gets props for stretching out beyond just Black and White rock n roll.
Review by Joey O.
Band of Horses - Cease To Begin
(Sub Pop)
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There are more than a few striking similarities between Band Of Horses and their labelmates, The Shins. Both have employed Phil Ek to produce every one of their albums, they have a taste for dreamy shoegaze-pop, and almost all of them have beards. The difference, though, seems to be the influence of their music. While The Shins may have listened to British Invasion bubblegum pop in their youth, Band Of Horses' latest, Cease To Begin channels many roots and Americana acts as well. Sure, there are times when lead singer Ben Bridwell's upper-register vocals can sound like Jim James or Wayne Coyne, but the often bluesy music suggests hints of The Band ("The General Specific"), and even American Beauty-era Grateful Dead (the twangy "Marry Song"). While the album is not at all short on infectious pop tunes ("Islands On The Coast" and "Ode To LRC"), the forays into ethereal country ballads are really where the group shines. James Mercer and company may get all the attention, but Band Of Horses really know how to make an album that's perfect for this time of year.
Review by Eric Schuman
Week of November 5, 2007
About A Girl - Various Artists
(FDR Label)
The math is simple: 21 Philadelphia-area artists covering 21 songs, celebrating 21 women. A female name in the song title was the only prerequisite About A Girl, a benefit CD raising money for the PA Breast Cancer Coalition. Beyond that, artists were given free rein to have at it from across the rock spectrum. On the quiet end, there's Grammar Debate! working through the ether of The Velvet Underground's "Stephanie Says," and an unusually subdued Trolleyvox doing "Julia" by The Beatles. More bands on the roster seem to favor the rawk, though, beginning with South Jersey's Maybe Pete, who opens the compilation with a righteous, riffed-up rendition of Dylan's "Queen Jane Approximately." Later on, Dipsomaniacs do "Something's Happened to Catherine" by 80s power poppers Material Issue, and Milton and the Devils Party dish a spot-on rendition of "Victoria" by The Kinks. The ladies of Beretta 76 amp out and shriek to AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie." New faces Taggart take on the only 90s song in the set, "Suzanne" by Weezer. And that's only a small sampling of the gems on this set. To find out more, visit myspace.com/fdraboutagirl. Or just check it out live; many of the bands from the comp will appear at a CD release show at the North Star Bar on Nov. 9.
Review by John Vettese
Week of October 29, 2007
Dave Gahan - Hourglass
(Virgin/Mute)
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When founding member and chief lyricist Vince Clarke left the band in 1981, Depeche Mode's music got dark and popular. With Martin Gore now supplying the lyrics to lead singer David Gahan's commanding baritone voice, Depeche Mode continues to provide a soundtrack to mopey introspection to this day. For his second solo album, Hourglass, Gahan wrote his own material that sounds (un)surprisingly like the Mode at its gloomiest. Gahan has no doubt been listening to many of the newer bands that his music has influenced over the years. Most notably, the album features many Nine Inch Nails moments, such as "Use Me" and "Endless". Even a few of his post-punk contemporaries' styles can be picked out, namely the Love And Rockets-esque epic glam-fests (lead single, "Kingdom", comes to mind). While the tone of the music is rather predictable, this is just a case of a musician doing what he knows best. Though a return to the bright, bouncy synthpop of Depeche Mode's debut, Speak & Spell, might have been more refreshing, there's no getting around the fact that fans of Gahan and company's bleak tunes are where the group shines. Like any good musician and friend, Gahan is simply giving his fans what they want. Well, the music, anyway (you'll still have to supply your own eyeliner).
Review by Eric Schuman
Coheed & Cambria - No World For Tomorrow
(Sony)
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Coheed and Cambria's latest album, Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow, takes little time to pick up where its predecessor left off. After a short acoustic prologue, it's back to pounding prog-metal, beginning with the explosive title track. Despite losing half its roster since the last album-and regaining one of them just in time to record this one-C&C sound at the top of their game. When the band shouts "Raise your hands high, young brothers and sisters!" it's truly a powerful moment, and my favorite on the album. That isn't to say the record peaks there. "The Hound (of Blood and Rank)," with its synths and glam metal riffs, could have been just as huge twenty years ago as it deserves to be now. "The Running Free" and "Radio Bye Bye" are poppier, faster songs that recall "The Suffering" and "The Lying Lies and Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court." Ballads like "Mother Superior" and "The Road and the Damned" are brilliantly naked in their candor and emotion. And the five-part closer "The End Complete," for the most part is a superb payoff; a sweeping, epic suite.
There really is a lot to love about this album, so much so that it's easy to overlook or even embrace its missteps. "Gravemakers & Gunslingers" and "Justice In Murder" could be regarded as simple filler if they weren't so infectious. (I've gotten all sorts of weird looks singing "There will be justice in murrrrderrrr!" on the way to work.) The instrumental "Fall of House Atlantic" feels like it could have been much more than a simple one-minute mood piece. However, my biggest gripe is that the rhythm section lacks the punch of earlier albums. While temporary replacement drummer Taylor Hawkins is never anything less than solid, he lacks the extra sizzle that former drummer Josh Eppard brought to the kit, and his rapport with bassist Michael Todd isn't really as strong. One needs only listen to "Fuel for the Feeding End" from the previous album to hear the give and take between Eppard and Todd and understand their part in shaping the band's latter-day prog-power metal sound.
Thankfully, the songs are strong enough to make up for that. Claudio Sanchez is at his vocal best here, comfortably wailing through tender ballads and belting out heavy anthems. He attacks the material with aplomb, never failing to wring every drop of drama from each syllable. His songcraft has grown too. His lyrics are still as violent as they are poetic, even when he's being romantic ("You've got the gun/I've got the bullets/Baby be my lover/Go on and pull that trigger"), but the songs feel like full-bodied, convincing stadium rockers now, marginalizing many of the last album's progressive excesses in favor of a more mainstream direction. If the band has grown more restrained in that area, they've let loose in others with their biggest and most polished album yet. For those who've been following the story of Heaven's Fence, it's a satisfying conclusion. And for those just coming in, it's no less a towering effort. The Crowing flies, indeed.
Review by Andre Bennett
Week of October 22, 2007
Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
(Interscope)
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Three years after the expansive 2004 album Futures, Jimmy Eat World have tightened up their sound for Chase This Light, the Arizona quartet's slickest album yet. Executive produced by the great Butch Vig, Chase This Light takes a few extra listens to dig past the glossier veneer to find the classic Jimmy Eat World emotion within. Lead single "Big Casino" sticks to their formula of huge hooks and an anthemic chorus. "Let It Happen" and "Always Be" also fit right into the band's catalog as future radio hits. Jim Adkins has proven to be adept at inspirational, upbeat songs ("Futures," "A Praise Chorus") or emo downers ("Drugs Or Me") but here he combines the two. For example, "Always Be," which has been stuck in my head for days, finds his undeniably catchy chorus noting that "I'm alone in this/I'm as I've always been/right behind what's happening." As usual, there are excellent backing vocals that you'd expect, notably on the political "Electable (Give It Up)." Aside from the dark "Gotta Be Somebody's Blues," Chase This Light never really gets into the ethereal, Cure-inspired atmospherics that took over the second half of Futures. The record starts to drag a little near the end, and at times, Adkins oddly chooses to sing in a higher, more pinched register than normal. But overall, Chase This Light is certainly a worthy addition to the band's canon.
Review by Joey O.
The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
(Anti/Epitaph)
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The change happened so gradually that it almost seems natural for Canada's once-sedate indie troubadors The Weakerthans to be a boisterous rock band. But that's what we get in the opening seconds of "Civil Twilight" – a bit of skittish keyboard and then a hefty 90s power chord crunch. The hook is good, the song rocks and the energy carries across Reunion Tour, the fourth full-length the group has produced since singer / guitarist John Sansom left his aggressive political punk outfit Propaghandi in 1997. In "Relative Surplus Value," his comforting, almost cartoonish voice speeds along to a thumping tom beat and ringing guitar distortion. "Tournament of Hearts" has a chunky syncopated riff, a Get Up Kids cadence and a slappy, happy hi-hat-to-snare fill on the chorus. This is a far cry from The Weakerthans' debut Fallow, or 2000's Left and Leaving, where Sansom's clever wordplay and touching character sketches were bathed in somber, mellow tones akin to Elliott Smith and The Promise Ring. But their 2003 sophomore release, Reconstruction Site, eased pop hooks and rock dynamics into their sound. Reunion Tour furthers that progression, and while some fans might pooh-pooh it as a mainstream cash-in, a bid for the Warped Tour from a band once celebrated for its heady wit…well, firstly, the songs are as good as ever. Second, the band hasn't abandoned its esoteric appeals to the literati; this time we find Sansom writing about the sasquatch, crafting a spoken-word homage to ice hockey player Gump Worsley and reintroducing a character from Reconstruction Site ("Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure" is a sequel to "Plea From a Cat Name Virtue"). Sure, The Weakerthans are now indie-punk, but they are more book-smart than almost any other indie punk act out there, creating a mix of intellect and energetic appeal you won't want to miss when play The Troc on Monday Oct. 29.
Review by John Vettese
Week of October 15, 2007
Radiohead - In Rainbows
(ATO)
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Just over two weeks ago, the world learned that Radiohead was releasing their long-awaited seventh studio album much sooner than expected. While the band had taken their time on the follow-up to 2003's Hail To The Thief, and are currently unsigned, no one expected the announcement of In Rainbows so quickly. Instead of releasing the record in any traditional fashion, In Rainbows is being sold digitally, directly through Radiohead.com, and fans are encouraged to pay whatever price they want. There will also be a deluxe, 'discbox' edition of the album, with a normal CD release sometime early next year. The non-traditional marketing and selling of In Rainbows got the music industry talking about Radiohead and how their pricing plan could change the business. But aside from all that…how does it sound?
Radiohead's next evolutionary step finds them moving further away from traditional verse/chorus/verse song structures. For all the talk of the experimentation of Kid A/Amnesiac, there are plenty of catchy songs on those records. In Rainbows is much more of a grower, with many songs without any obvious choruses or hooks to speak of. There are a lot of cool sounds and musical elements going on, but very few 'songs.' Thom Yorke's vocals at times seem more blurry or buried than ever, with his lyrics further drifting into the abstract. The album kicks off with the herky-jerky "15 Step," which the band played throughout their 2006 tour. "Bodysnatchers" is the most rockin' track on the record, riding a fuzzed-out guitar riff. However, Jonny Greenwood tries out a surprising amount of acoustic guitar throughout the album, dropping in complicated, stripped-down riffs in place of his usual armada of effects pedals.
"Nude," a longtime fan favorite that the band has been tinkering with since OK Computer , makes its long awaited appearance, with a spine-chilling falsetto from Yorke. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" is built around the titular guitar part and Phil Selway's crisp drumming, while the haunting "All I Need" is the most 'traditionally' structured song on the record. "House Of Cards" begins with one of the most straightforward opening lyrics in Radiohead history: "I don't want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover." Yorke's voice is bathed in My Morning Jacket levels of echo on this song, which also features a surprisingly simple, strumming guitar part. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" (formerly "Open Pick") is one of the only other rockers on In Rainbows and is driven by Colin Greenwood's pulsing bass. And "Videotape," is an appropriate closer in the vein of "Motion Picture Soundtrack." Yorke sings what appears to be a pre-recorded message from the afterlife, accompanied by not much more than a piano and the sound of a percussion loop falling apart.
I don't hear In Rainbows as "a return to form" for Radiohead, or as some have said, "their most accessible record yet." It's challenging their audience once again, both in the way the album was released and the music itself. In this age of albums being digitally cherry-picked on iTunes, In Rainbows demands close attention to be fully appreciated.
Review by Joey O.
Week of October 8, 2007
Electric Six - I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me
from Being the Master
(Metropolis)
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Do you smell that? Is that a whiff of seriously serious
musicianship coming from the newest release from Detroit's Electric
Six? Not that Dick Valentine and his roving band of misfits
weren't skilled performers before, but maybe having steadied their
lineup for a second consecutive album has given them time and practice
to get convincingly unhinged in directions other than party jams.
Granted, from the title onward - the unwieldy and egomaniacal I
Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the
Master - there's still a lot of knowing winks and musical elbow
jabs in the ribs; E6, after all, are the guys behind the likes of "Gay
Bar," "Dance Epidemic," and "I Buy the Drugs." Here, the rapid-fire
"Down at McDonnelzzz" (a thinly veiled homage to a certain fast-food
chain), discofied "Dance Pattern," and juvenile rhymes of "Dirty Looks"
and "Rip It!" uphold that legacy. Yet there are times where Valentine
and Co. seem to cross a bridge from informed hilarity (think Flight
of the Conchords, Tenacious D) into sarcastic, even pained literacy
(think Dresden Dolls, They Might be Giants). Amid the pulses of
I Shall Exterminate Everything... giving acts from Klaxons
to The Hives a run for their money, a trio of tracks at the
album's core - "When I Get to the Green Building," a glammy "Riding on
the White Train," and the New Wave touch of "Broken Machine" - show
Electric Six' content is no longer just adult. It's growing up.
Review by Adam Blyweiss
Week of October 1, 2007
Siouxsie - Mantaray
(Decca)
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Siouxsie Sioux has spent nearly 30 years as the painted face of post-punk and gothic music, alongside the rest of Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Creatures, and in particular her collaborator in both groups and now ex-husband Budgie. With ties to these longtime business, musical, and life partners now cut, what's a girl to do? Drop her surname and show the single-named singing sorority a little what-for, that's what. (Britney, take notes!) Siouxsie starts off Mantaray with a trio of deceptively friendly songs that sucker listeners into her black widow's web of mostly mid-to-downtempo growling. She also crafts some really cool exceptions to your typical music of the night, producing a James Bond theme-in-the-making in "Here Comes That Day" and the sparkling stomp of "One Mile Below." Mantaray positions Siouxsie as the epicenter of a girl-rock earthquake: She can channel 1970s and 1980s contemporaries like Chrissie Hynde ("Heaven and Alchemy"), Patti Smith ("If It Doesn't Kill You") and Grace Jones ("Into a Swan") as easily as she forms the template for scratchy Garbage synth-rock and The Dresden Dolls' neo-cabaret. Frankly, she makes it obvious that today's hottest artists know their history yet doom themselves to repeat it - Yeah Yeah Yeahs steal her chops in the same manner as Arcade Fire cop from Echo & the Bunnymen. Siouxsie's been in this game long enough to know how to raise her game. Her first true solo album suggests that, like Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker before her, she may never have needed a named band behind her in the first place - it's all about a feeling, her sneaky words and distinctive vocals, instrumentalists be damned.
Review by Adam Blyweiss
Week of September 24, 2007
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
(RCA)
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The Foo Fighters have been an amazing model of consistency and popularity in the fickle world of Rock N Roll. Seriously, aside from Courtney Love, who doesn't like Dave Grohl and the boys? As for consistency, by my count, the Foos have released over 20 singles in their illustrious career. The dependability continues on Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, which melds both the acoustic and rock halves of 2005's double album In Your Honor. The radio-ready rockers are there in the blazing single "The Pretender" and catchy "Long Road To Ruin." But the acoustic side of the previous record (and the Skin & Bones 'Foo-coustic' tour) is on display as well, on songs such as "Stranger Things Have Happened" and "Home." Some of the best quiet moments come when Grohl's voice is stripped of double-tracking and echo, allowing his whisper to be showcased as effectively his scream. Both sides of the Foos are brought together perfectly on "Let It Die," a song that starts off as an acoustic ballad but gradually builds into an epic rocker. It also gets tagged as the "song-about- Kurt-and-Courtney" for this album. Then there is the instrumental "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," inspired by the well-publicized tale of the Australian miners trapped underground who asked for the Foos' music to keep their spirits up. On ESP&G have done it once again. From getting sports fans pumped up during Eagles games to winning the approval of the fickle hipster, Grohl's everyman charm and talent for crafting a great hook have helped make the Foo Fighters into the likeable rock band that everyone can agree on, and Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace only adds to their legacy.
Review by Joey O.
Sea Wolf - Leaves In The River
(Dangerbird)
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At the very least, we all know one thing about Alex Brown Church: he's a wolf. To be precise, a Sea Wolf; although his debut album, Leaves In The River, has a decidedly earthy texture in its soundscapes. Like Bright Eyes and Andrew Bird did earlier this year, Sea Wolf has let loose a string and squeaky fret-laden quiet storm, complete with breathy vocals and the occasional modest freak-out. While "You're A Wolf" remains firmly planted in our brains (thanks to the May release of the Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low EP), mid-tempo tunes "Black Dirt" and "Middle Distance Runner" are also quite worthy of getting stuck in your head. The mostly acoustic album boasts a few spacey synth lines and some rushing river sound effects, but they don't take anything away from the overall atmosphere. This is especially true on "Song For The Dead," which features a keyboard that would make Brandon Flowers' moustache twitch. Though I suspect that this album will be pegged as "placid" or worse, "chill," I maintain that Leaves In The River has enough musical curveballs to keep things interesting.
Review by Eric Schuman
Week of September 17, 2007
The A-Sides - Silver Storms
(Vagrant)
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To say that The A-Sides have taken a step forward with their sophomore album would be the understatement of the freaking decade. Note the string intro, the lush arrangements and the number of string-bend / synthesizer-accentuated / slow-burn epics that exceed five minutes in length. This is no mere step, this is a catapault shot that leaves you wondering what happened to that unassuming group of West Philly kids who did a respectable impersonation of The Kinks. Silver Storms is a self-consciously "big" album, but it never comes off as pretentious or superficial, since the even the most sprawling songs seem sincere and heartfelt. Conversely, there are a number of down-to-earth moments (the sprightly single "We're The Trees," the 1950s innocence captured in "A Florida Grove") that sound huge. This is a solid album to make Philly music lovers proud. Since it's The A-Sides' first release in a contract with national label Vagrant (home to The Hold Steady, eels, Saves the Day, et al), this is also an album that can be singularly representative of Philly music for the rest of the country, kind of the way The Strokes' Is This It represented the Brooklyn boom, Bright Eyes' Lifted... represented Omaha or – dare I say it? – Nevermind represented Seattle. Hyperbole, perhaps, but hear me out. Imagine everything that is good and buzzing and promising about the region's rock bands: Dr. Dog's fondness for minor chord scales, "woah-oh-oh" hooks and psychedelia…The Swimmers' potent indie power pop…Illinois' roots leanings and arrangements. Now let's say you took it all and distilled it into a single album; the result would be Silver Storms. There are no Man Man-style freakouts, but I suppose they can come later. For now, The A-Sides have given us ten songs in 50 minutes that are thrilling on a number of levels, mostly in their excellence.
Review by John Vettese
Week of September 10, 2007
Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd.
(Reprise)
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Hot Hot Heat became Y100 favorites back in 2003 after the release of their breakthrough album, Make Up The Breakdown. Playing two sets at that summer's Feztival, the Canadian band won us over with their keyboard laden, herky-jerky hooky dance-rock. 2005's Elevator brought us even more ultra-catchy tunes and made Hot Hot Heat the first band to visit Y100Rocks.com's Bunker v. 1 (aka Jim McGuinn's house). Their newest album, Happiness Ltd. arrives in stores this week. Lead single "Let Me In" showed the band has not lost its ability for the big, catchy chorus, while adding a larger production sound, reminiscent of The Killers. Big-haired frontman Steve Bays still knows his way around a clever, twisty turn of phrase on tracks like "My Best Fiend" and "Outta Heart." And "Give Up?," which was released earlier this year via iTunes, is another highlight and perhaps the best track on the album. However, I'm never a fan of when a band re-records an older song for a new album, which HHH are guilty of on Happiness Ltd. "5 Times Out Of 100," from 2002's Knock Knock Knock Sub Pop EP, re-appears on the new record with essentially the same arrangement but better production. Many of the new tunes lyrically skew a bit darker, as the record was written in the wake of a breakup with Bays' girlfriend. While Happiness Ltd. isn't quite the non-stop, hook-laden Pop candy of Elevator, it shows a more mature side of the group. Hot Hot Heat are always an excellent live band, and you can see for yourself on October 14 at the Fillmore at the TLA.
Review by Joey O.
Week of September 10, 2007
THE GO! TEAM - Proof of Youth
(Sub Pop)
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If you've ever made a mix for someone that had a song from the 70s or 80s right next to a modern tune, you have no doubt noticed that the older song is somewhat quieter. This is because in recent years, we have better understanding of how we really listen to music on a scientific level. I'll spare you the technicalities, but essentially if we hear a song on the radio, and the song right after it is a teensy bit louder, our minds understand that second song as being a teensy bit better. Because of this, modern record engineers are maxing out bands like never before. Then there's The Go! Team. They have taken the approach to make their music so hi-fi, it goes back to being lo-fi. With fuzzy guitars and fuzzier vocals, it's best to listen to their new album, Proof Of Youth, as an instrumental album, even for the songs with words. With the exceptions of a few songs (including first single "Grip Like A Vice"), the vocals act as just another instrument in the Wall Of Sound-esque mix. The gang expands on the inklings of hip-hop, as well as the counting off of choruses that could be found on 2004's Thunder, Lightning Strike. While it's hard to pick standout tracks from the non-stop party, "Doing It Right" and Chuck D collaboration "Flashlight Fight" are the punch and disco ball for this shindig. Incidentally, my first exposure to The Go! Team wasn't even musical in nature. Their artwork that adorns the WXPN studio walls is a standout amongst all the other signatures and drawings. The fact that the band is good at drawing cartoons somehow makes sense to me. Proof Of Youth is a very cartoonish album, from one upbeat track to another.
Review by Eric Schuman
Week of September 4, 2007
Mae - Singularity
(Tooth & Nail/Capitol)
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Norfolk, VA's own Mae rose to prominence with 2005's The Everglow. Co-produced by sonic mastermind Ken Andrews and featuring the single "Suspension," it showed the band had a bit more punch and was a cut above than many of their Warped Tour peers. They even stopped by the old Y100Rocks.com bunker a few years back. Now the band is back with Singularity, their third album and first for Capitol. Mae took their name from "Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience," a term from a college course taken by drummer Jacob Marshall, who co-founded the band with singer/guitarist Dave Elkins. The group also includes guitarist Zach Gehring, bassist Mark Padgett and keyboardist Rob Sweitzer . Marshall says Mae was inspired to reach for the heights of some of their favorite artists on the new material. "We've always loved bands like Pearl Jam, U2 and the Smashing Pumpkins and on this record we wanted to tap into that. We weren't trying to recreate a 90's record, per se, but we definitely wanted it to have that same energy." He also explains that the album title, Singularity, is almost as high concept as the band's name. The term came from a book he and Sweitzer had been reading and the author "described it very eloquently as 'the ultimate unknowable in science... the interface between the natural and the supernatural'." Singularity opens with hooky "Brink Of Disaster," but the highlight is the excellent and wordy single "Sometimes I Can't Make It Alone," which you can currently hear on Y-Rock. Mae just played the North Star Bar a few weeks ago, but they'll be back on November 14 opening for Motion City Soundtrack at the Electric Factory.
Review by Joey O.
Week of August 27, 2007
The New Pornographers - Challengers
(Matador)
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Chatting during a SEPTA ride a couple weeks back, Josh T. Landow
pointed out to me that a number of typically rockin' bands have slowed
things down considerably in 2007. It's a good observation…check out
releases by Modest Mouse, Rilo Kiley, Interpol, and an instrumental Beastie Boys record for evidence. Heroic Vancouver indie group The New
Pornographers also takes something of a sedate step back on their new Challengers, but unlike those other bands I mentioned, the sound
doesn't suffer as a result. In fact, bandleader A.C. Newman and his
compatriots managed to make one of the slowest songs in their
catalogue to date ("Failsafe") also one of their best. Despite its
softness and subtlety, the tune is compelling as, say, the hyperactive
"Use It" from Twin Cinema or "The End of Medicine" from Electric
Version. Elsewhere, the opening "My Rights Versus Yours" is a gradual
build, starting out as a whisper and swelling into a joyous rancor.
Later on there's those cuts that keep up the speed we know and love,
like "All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth" and "Mutiny, I
Promise You." Mix in elements from the members that make this group a
supergroup – Neko Case's classy waltz ("Go Places") and the
distinctively nasal, David Bowie-esque voice of Destroyer's Dan Bejar ("Myriad Harbour," "Entering White Cecilia") – and you won't mind so
much that this album finds The New Pornos' pulse relaxed.
Review by John Vettese
Week of August 20, 2007
Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight
(Warner Bros.)
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With every album, Los Angelinos Rilo Kiley's ambitions and popularity has grown. By the time 2004's More Adventurous was released, there were big guitar riffs ("Portions For Foxes") and epic, Country-tinged ballads ("I Never") side-by-side. The record showed this was a band capable of just about anything, including an opening slot for Coldplay. Singer Jenny Lewis' lyrics were praised by the likes of Elvis Costello, while her looks were praised by just about every indie rock fan around. In 2006, both Lewis and guitarist/co-songwriter Blake Sennett spent the year touring on side projects. Lewis released the amazing solo album Rabbit Fur Coat, while Sennett spent his time with The Elected. But you probably knew a lot of that. Let's move on to the next chapter in the band's history: Under The Blacklight. "The Moneymaker" was the slinky, sexy first taste of the album. The band has cited a Classic Rock influence on the new material, name-checking Heart, The Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac, and you can definitely hear that vibe throughout the album. Rilo Kiley sounds far removed from the group that emerged as peers to Bright Eyes earlier this decade, especially due to Lewis' growth as a powerful singer.
Lead track "Silver Lining" is the closest Under The Blacklight gets to the country-soul of Lewis' Rabbit Fur Coat album. "Breakin' Up" and "Dejalo" are practically classic disco songs, thanks to the female backup singers. "Dreamworld" is Sennett's lone lead contribution, a hypnotic highlight with a total Lindsey Buckingham production feel. In fact, Sennett's spiky guitar work is one of the best aspects of the album. While I admire any band that takes a risk to grow and change, as many great ones do, the direction Rilo Kiley has taken on this album might not be the best one. While sonically, Under The Blacklight may truly be a "more adventurous" step, Lewis made a conscious decision to write songs about the sleazy L.A. underbelly instead of her own life. Songs such as "15" (as in "she was only") and "Smoke Detector" accomplish this goal, but sadly the lyrics are a little simpler, less dense and sadly, less compelling. However, this band has the talent and skills to do almost anything and take their music in any direction they want in the future. Rilo Kiley make their triumphant return to Philadelphia at the Troc on September 25, and if you haven't seen the porn-tastic video for "The Moneymaker," visit themoneymaker.com.
Review by Joey O.
Week of August 13, 2007
Unkle - War Stories
(Surrender All/TBC)
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It wasn't quite 20 years ago today that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to
DJ, but James Lavelle (founder of the legendary downtempo electronic
label Mo'Wax) did make UNKLE into the one indie/dance/rock all-star
project where the revolving studio door spins as fast as it does on most
rap albums. The moody 1998 debut Psyence Fiction - with Thom
Yorke's "Rabbit in Your Headlights" and Richard Ashcroft's "Lonely Soul"
alongside DJ Shadow, Kool G Rap and Badly Drawn Boy - set the bar so
high that the sophomore jinx hit 2004's Never, Never, Land hard
despite help from Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, and Stone Rose Ian Brown.
Lowered expectations on the part of Lavelle and his fans means the new
War Stories should right the UNKLE ship. Nobody will mistake
UNKLE's plaintive vocals, gurgling production, and sometimes dour
writing for a party in a box, but this current gang of misfits succeed
in cloning the sonic DNA of a really good radio station. The Duke Spirit propel "Mayday" towards the bluesy stomp of Queens of the Stone Age,
while QOTSA's own Josh Homme turns "Restless" into a coulda-been
Chemical Brothers collab. "Burn My Shadow" - with Ian Astbury of The
Cult, stop-and-go arrangements and muted piano - makes the strongest
connection to the best of UNKLE's past; elsewhere, Massive Attack's
stamp on "Twilight" and Lavelle's replacement of Shadow samples with
crisp 4/4 beats (and vocals from himself and coproducer Richard File) on
epics like "Morning Rage" lead them on into the future. War
Stories is an instance of trying to be all things to all people that
actually works.
Review by Adam Blyweiss
Week of August 6, 2007
Editors - An End Has A Start
(Fader Label)
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It was easy to slap the Joy Division wannabe tag on Editors in light of their 2005 debut The Back Room showing up amid work from a host of same-sounding contemporaries: Interpol, She Wants Revenge, you know the M.O. On the new An End Has a Start, however, the Birmingham, England quartet make clear connections to other disaffected, disappointed artists. The troubled scenes of first single "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors" and "Bones" ("In the end, all you can hope for/Is the love you felt to equal the pain you've gone through") make the words of Tom Smith seem more dense and intricate than those of JD's Ian Curtis. Add the skillful instrumental introspection of Smith's fellow Editors ("The Weight of the World," "Push Your Head Towards the Air"), decidedly shorter on hooks here than The Back Room, and the band really screams The Smiths through and through - with maybe some hints of long-lost indie ghosts like American Music Club. An End Has a Start is the yin to Interpol's yang, a step in a creative, yet sad, direction.
Review by Adam Blyweiss
