Maybe it was too soon to make a post about pins that say “I Did Coke W/ Jay Reatard,” but I’m sure Jay wouldn’t have given a shit.
“Cocaine toxicity, aided and abetted by booze, did in musician Jay Reatard, according to the results of an autopsy released this morning.”
Yeah, Bloodshot! Three hundred more miles!
Band: Rogue Wave
Release: 3/2010
Label: Brushfire
1. “Solitary Gun” – A-
2. “Good Morning (The Future) – A-
3. “Sleepwalker” – A-
4. “Stars and Stripes”- B
5. “Permalight” – B-
6. “Fear Itself” – C
7. “Right With You” – B
8. “We Will Make a Song Destroy” – B
9. “I’ll Never Leave You” – B+
10. “Per Anger” – C+
11. “You Have Boarded” – B-
12. “All That Remains” – B
Comments: My initial impression of this record is Built to Spill meets Shout Out Louds. “Solitary Gun” evokes good memories of Descended Like Vultures material. There are some nice synths on “Good Morning” reminding me this time of a band Peter Bjorn and John. It’s sort of hilarious how Zack Rogue sounds like he’s from Gothenburg not Oakland. I’m not impressed that the band kind of transitions to a quasi pop-punk sound in the middle of the album after staying true to its folk-rock roots in the beginning. I guess the band kind of ran out of good concepts. “All That Remains” is pretty good, but ZAP the power is unplugged and the album is done with. Good job, guys.
Grade: B (84)
Girls and Dum Dum Girls will be touring together in a little while.
As far as Boston area location, they will be playing at the Paradise Rock Club.
The date? April 1, 2010!
Yeah, buddy, that week is going to be awesome. The Black Lips start it off on the 25th and then you have Deerhunter on the 27th and then you have Beach House on the 28th (I’m still up in the air, but I kind of want to go now) and then this! Damn, bro!
****REVISION****
Band: Beach House
Release: 1/2010
Label: Sub Pop
1. “Zebra” – A
2. “Silver Soul” – A
3. “Norway” – A
4. “Walk In The Park” – A+
5. “Used To Be” – A
6. “Lover of Mine” – A-
7. “Better Times” – A
8. “10 Mile Stereo” – A+
9. “Real Love” – A
10. “Take Care” – A+
Comment: The original CD Review for this album was kind of fucked up as I judged the album based on three characteristics (which were basically the same) instead of how I’ve been doing it with regard to every other album review. As a result, I was more of a hard-ass with this album than with any other other. “Zebra” exhibits the sexiness of Victoria Legrand’s voice and features one of the best chorus hooks I’ve heard all year. With all do respect, Alex Scally deserves credit for his enticing (poor word choice) guitar play. Got to love the “ha ha ha!” in “Norway” considering my crush executes it perfectly. Again, to mention the brilliance of choruses, I am deeply affected by “Walk In The Park.” I can’t see why the mainstream wouldn’t be attracted to it. It’s not Lady Gaga or Ke$ha, so it doesn’t have that sucker electro-pop style (try dream-pop, which has never been “accessible”) that’s been the opiate of the music masses for the past few years. When Legrand sings “any day now” on “Used To Be” that’s just a major turning point from a good rating to a great one. Overall, this is a very ethereal release that requires multiple listens to appreciate the complete beauty.
Grade: A (95)
Band: Motion City Soundtrack
Release: 1/10
Label: Columbia
1. “Worker Bee” – C
2. “A Lifeless Ordinary” – B-
3. “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” – C-
4. “Disappear” – C
5. “Delirium” – C-
6. “History Lesson” – C+
7. “Stand Too Close” – C+
8. “Pulp Fiction” – C
9. “@!#?@!” – C-
10. “Hysteria” – D+
11. “Skin and Bones” – C+
12. “The Weakends” – C
Comments: My initiation with MCS came in 2006 when I first heard “Everything Is Alright” on MLB 06 The Show and to be honest I had forgotten about the band entirely until the other night when a kind girl brought them up. Not going to lie I did dig that song. This was back when the band was independent (they signed to Columbia for this record after previously being on Epitaph), but that doesn’t really matter anyway. “Everything” was pretty much pure pop-punk, but not really the obnoxious kind that I find myself often rolling my eyeballs at, more in the vain of Head Automatica than Fall Out Boy or whatever other boring fucks exist in that genre. Also, not going to lie, I didn’t really have a good vibe about this release. No, not because it’s the band’s first album since selling out, but because I only liked them because of one song. Okay so the real talk, the real deal is that this is pretty solid, but nothing special. I can see it appeal to a variety of sensibilities including those termbros who might be fearful of the production quality on this. This shit is clean as fuck, but I guess it veers off to sometimes experimental patterns. It’s a guilty pleasure. I don’t want to admit liking this shit, but it’s sort of hard to bad mouth it (even though it’s mostly cheesy and pretentious and all that good stuff that “rocker” girls like) like I want to. One thing I can’t do is refer to their earlier work and say they sacrificed their sound or what have you. Can’t do that. Another bit of perspective: what’s up with the lone standing bass line/vocals turning into full on explosions? Is that an exclusive pop-punk formula? The quirkiness kind of kills this for me. What was all right in the beginning is a bit old news by the end.
Grade: C (74)
Hot damn! That’s Victoria Legrand right there of Beach House. Her and that other guy in the band recently did a Daytrotter session and I’m feeling this a lot, particularly songs like “Zebra,” which I wrote about a few days ago and now my fascination is “Walk In The Park.” Legrand’s Nico replica of a voice is pretty hot, not going to lie.
Listen to the tunes here: http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/beach-house-concert/20031020-3738208.html
A video doesn’t do any justice for anything as awesome as a Black Lips live show, but this one captures some of the energy and sounds for sure.
“Thee” is such a damn garage name!
Check out these garage rock revivalists.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 