Category Archives: CD Review

CD Review, Music

CD Review: Sports [2010]

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Band: Weekend
Release: 11/2010
Label: Slumberland

1. “Coma Summer” – B
2. “Youth Haunts” – C+
3. “Monday Morning” – C
4. “Monongah” – A-
5. “Landscape” – B-
6. “Age Class” – B
7. “Veil” – C
8. “End Times” – B+
9. “Afterimage” – C-
10. “Untitled” – B

Comments: Slumberland is a hot bed for noise pop these days. Pains of Being Pure at Heart released a structured self-titled debut that definitely was more pop slime than anything else.  Weekend’s music on this album, conversely, is more of a reflection of the kind of extended shoe-gaze that we just don’t to see much of anymore. The drumming, across the board, is really awesome. The bass lines are typically catchy, as well. The guitars — well, what do you expect? — are loaded with feedback and other sorts of effects that aren’t atypical of this style of music. “Monongah” is my favorite tune on here. For one, it is one of the shortest; we get more “song” than anything else. You’ve got to be a real noise-phile to love Sports ’cause I sure don’t! I like tennis. No, not that Tennis.

Grade: B- (80)

CD Review, Music

CD Review: Strychnine Dandelion [2010]

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Band: The Parting Gifts
Release: 11/2010
Label: In The Red Records

1. “Keep Walkin” –  A-
2. “Bound To Let Me Down” – B+
3. “Strange Disposition” – B+
4. “My Mind’s Made Up” – B+
5. “Shine” – A-
6. “Born To Be Blue” – A
7. “Staring” – A
8. “Don’t Stop” – B+
9. “My Baby Tonight” – B
10. “Sleepy City” – A
11. “Don’t Hurt Me Now” – A-
12. “Hanna” – B+
13. “I Don’t Wanna Be Like This” – A
14. “Strychnine Dandelion” – A-
15. “This House Ain’t A Home” – A

Comments: Greg Cartwright is an accomplished musician from one of earth’s top mecca’s of garage rock: Memphis, Tennessee. Cartwright — known as Greg Oblivian when he was in The Oblivians — has a knack for crafting solid oldies pop songs. This collaboration reeks of roots rock: old country, rockabilly, trash rock, etc. The verses on “My Mind’s Made Up” are virtual rockabilly re-takes on the verses on The King Khan & BBQ Show’s “Too Much in Love”. Credit to Cartwright and Coco Hames of the Ettes for dating this thing. Take the lyrics on “Born To Be Blue” for instance: “It’s a lonely stand/When a girl loves two and she must choose. Please understand/I still love you, but he needs me, too.” Classic girl group stuff, which re-appears on “Sleepy City.” Fans of everything that I’ve mentioned (and more), please check this out. It’s one of the best records that In The Red has released this year.

Grade: A- (90)

CD Review, Music

CD Review: The Lady Killer [2010]

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Artist: Cee-Lo Green
Release: 11/2010
Label: Elektra

1. “Lady Killer Theme (Intro)” – N/A
2. “Bright Lights Bigger City” – C
3. “Fuck You” – B+
4. “Wildflower” – B-
5. “Bodies” – C+
6. “Please” – C+
7. “Satisfied” – C+
8. “I Want You” – C
9. “Cry Baby” – B-
10. “Fool For You” – C+
11. “It’s OK” – B-
12. “Old Fashioned” – C
13. “No One’s Gonna Love You” – C
14. “Lady Killer Theme (Outro)” – N/A

Comments: Let’s get it straight. “Fuck You” blew up on the Internet. Everyone was sending it to everybody and their grandmother and the rest was history. Of course, the clean version has substituted the rated PG “Fuck You” for the G “Forget You,” which is a million times worse than even “F U” because of the mere amount of syllables involved in saying that. The song itself is not special special. I’ve heard many special special songs in my life…and in the past two months. “Fuck You” comes nowhere near any of those. The rest of the material on here is sort of showtunesy soul and/or slow jamz. “Please” is of the showtunes variety, which reminds me of something culled directly from an action packed cruise musical. Same with “I Want You”. As a musical disciple of the psychedelic soul of Arish King Khan, I can’t say that Cee-Lo’s neo-soul does much for me. Cee-Lo’s tunes are sugary, for certain, but lack any real hooks. I mean, there are sucker hooks — hooks that’ll make the average pop fan smile — but as far as anything substantial…nah, not really. Sorry, Cee-Lo, bro, you are a one-hit wonder in 2010.

Grade: C+ (78)

CD Review, Music, Uncategorized

CD Review: Man on the Moon 2 – The Legend of Mr. Rager [2010]

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Rapper: Kid CuDi
Release: 11/2010
Label: Universal Motown

1. “Scott Mescudi vs. The World” – B-
2. “REVOFEV” – B+
3. “Don’t Play This Song” – B-
4. “We Aite (Wake Your Mind Up)” – B-
5. “Marijuana” –  B+
6. “Mojo So Dope” –  C+
7. “Ashin’ Kucher” –  C
8. “Erase Me” – A
9. “Wild’n Cuz I’m Young” – B-
10. “The Mood” –  C
11. “MANIAC” – C-
12. “Mr. Rager” – B-
13. “These Worries” – C+
14. “The End” – B
15. “All Along” – B-
16. “GHOST!” – B
17. “Trapped In My Mind” – C

Comments: Kid CuDi is practically the only rapper of the past year or so that I enjoy listening to. I really loved Man on the Moon: The End of Day. It was pretty tight top to bottom. This album sort of sucks, though. Lyrical content is pretty lame and the rapping just isn’t catchy. I thought End of Day added a nice mix of psychedelia, but the attempted psychedelia on here overstays its welcome. Fans of CuDi hit singles should reasonably be skeptical of this record. “Erase Me” is great, but what else is there? Anything? “Marijuana”??? It’s a chill song and stuff, but it will not blow you out of the water. Take “GHOST.” It is really dumb, but has a solid base beat. Overall, I am really disappointed.

Grade: B- (80)

CD Review, Music, Nobunny

CD Review: Nobunny Live at Thirdman Records [2010]

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Band: Nobunny
Release: 8/2010
Label: Thirdman Records

1. “The Gutter” – A-
2. “Hocus Pocus” – B+
3. “Mess Me Up” – A
4. “Give It To Me” – A
5. “Motorhead With Me” – A+
6. “It’s True” – A+
7. “Boneyard” – A+
8.  “I Am A Girlfriend” – A+
9. “I Don’t Know Why” – N/A
10. “Your Mouth” –  N/A
11. “Not That Good” – A+
12. “It’s So Easy” –  A
13. “Hippy Witch” – B+
14. “Monster Kiss” – A-
15. “Chuck Berry Holiday” – A+

Comments: This is thee live Nobunny album that everyone’s been talking about. The introduction “Today’s greatest rock and roll band on Earth…Nobunny ladies and gentlemen!” met by cheers of all of five people in the audience is more priceless than Jared Swilley’s “This is going to be the greatest live album of all time” on Los Valienteles Del Mundo Nuevo. Live at Thirdman is the product of a late arrival at Jack White’s homestead after a crazy night involving jails and cheerios. Nobunny starts off with “The Gutter,” an old country tune from the Raw Romance tape about spending your unemployment paycheck on smokes and booze and not having any money left over for anything else. “Hocus Pocus” is a dancer. “Sometimes my feet get the best of me” says Nobunny after that one. “Mess Me Up” is a classic off Love Visions that’s pretty raw. The next two are off the Give It To Me 7″ released in early 2009. “Give It To Me” is a punk rocker in the same vein as the fantastic “Motorhead With Me”. Dedicated to all the pretty girls out there is “It’s True.” “I know you heard it all before/And I don’t mean to be a bore but/you got eyes that sparkle like diamonds!/you got a smile that keeps me smiling!/you’re so cute there’s no denying…It’s true!” The raunchy incomprehensible “Boneyard” is just one of those live songs that is awfully hard not to love. Same is true with “I Am a Girlfriend” mainly because of the short “hey little girl” Ramones-esque interlude, but also because it is an incredibly sharp yet raucous live tune. So after that incredible stretch of songs, there comes a problem. Nobunny realizes he can’t play some songs live. No big deal! “I Don’t Know Why” is a soft acoustic number (presumably) that was never practiced before and “Your Mouth” pretty much the same except they practiced it once. So after about ten seconds of “Your Mouth” Nobunny does what he does best. He says “WE’RE JUST GONNA DO OUR REGULAR SONGS.” A ha! Good call, No-no. Fitting (but not really because we know Nobunny is the shit) that he dedicated “Not That Good” to himself (and his band). “It’s So Easy” is a Buddy Holly cover with a few lyrical modifications here and there. “Hippy Witch” is basically inaudible on Raw Romance, but makes sense here. “Monster Kiss” is a Halloween song. Yee! No better way to end a set than with “Chuck Berry Holiday” — the same tune that one fan of mainstream music only (MMO) has called a “catchy song!” Now, that’s something! I attribute that to Nobunny’s vocals and the guitar riff. It’s golden. That’s all I’ve got. See ya later, suckers! “It’s a black man in a white world!”

Grade: A (94)

CD Review, Music

CD Review: Death To False Metal [2010]

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Band: Weezer
Release: 11/2010
Label: Geffen Records

1. “Tuning Up the Radio” – A
2. “I Don’t Want Your Loving” – A
3. “Blowin’ My Stack” – A
4. “Losing My Mind” – A
5. “Everyone” – A-
6. “I’m A Robot” – B
7. “Trampoline” – B+
8. “Odd Couple” – A-
9. “Autopilot” – B+
10. “Unbreak My Heart” – B-

Comments: Word. I think generally fans of early Weezer (TBA and Pinkerton) will think favorably of this release. This record (as a whole) is certainly edgier than “Beverly Hills” and the like. Death is old material encompassing a fairly vast variety of rock genres with 2010 production quality and aesthetics. There is some straight up power-pop, a little oldies/lighter pop, pop-punk, and some grunge. The first four tracks are absolute gems. The rest of the album is very good, but doesn’t quite have the passion (for lack of a better word) that is present on the first four tunes. The “Unbreak” cover borders on average. So maybe this is Weezer’s third best album ever?

Grade: B+ (89)

CD Review, Music

CD Review: Nothing Fits [2010]

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Band: Tyvek
Release: 11/2010
Label: In The Red Records

1. “4312” – B
2. “Animal” – B-
3. “Potato” – C
4. “Future Junk” – B-
5. “Nothing Fits” – C
6. “Outer Limits” – C-
7. “Underwater 1” – B
8. “Underwater 2” – B
9. “Kid Tut” – C
10. “Pricks In A Car” – C+
11. “This One – That One” – C-

Comments: Every time I see “Tyvek” I think of Tyvek! The problem is I’ve never listened to any material from the band Tyvek…until now. Obviously, I was expecting some sort of lo-fi garage/punk/pop. In The Red has a reputation for releasing that kind of stuff. Listening to this, for me anyway, is like listening to St. Dad or the Homostupids. Tyvek is better, but they’ve got too much noise and screaming. My little ears can not really handle it. At their lightest (“Underwater 1”), they are like a hardcore Cheap Time. At their heaviest, they are like your average ’80s D.C area high school hardcore punk band.

Grade: C+ (78)

CD Review, Music

CD Review: Play It Strange [2010]

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Band: The Fresh & Onlys
Release: 10/2010
Label: In The Red

1. “Summer of Love” – B+
2. “Waterfall” – A-
3. “Until the End of Time” – B
4. “Tropical Island Sweet” – B+
5. “All Shook Up” – A-
6. “Be My Hooker” – B-
7. “Fascinated” – B+
8. “Plague of Frogs” – B-
9. “Who Needs a Man” – B
10. “Red Light Green Light” – C+
11. “I’m A Thief” – B

Comments: Initially, I’m  feeling like I did the first few times I listened to Album. The music itself is fairly pop-sensible, but on the weird side of things. Play It Strange reminds me of The Shins at their most upbeat. Unfortunately, for me, I’m not feeling the psychedelia. This is too creepy of an album. Listening to this is like watching an old Western. There are some fascinating parts, but most of it is like Congratulations minus the pop factor. They are a good fit as opener for MGMT.

Grade: B (85)

Bo Burnham, CD Review, Comedy, Entertainment, Music

Comedy CD Review: Words, Words, Words [2010]

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Comedian: Bo Burnham
Release: October 19, 2010
Label: Comedy Central Records

Comments: Bo Burnham was just a suburban kid at one time. He did the average 16 year old thing: starred in school plays, earned high marks, and made YouTube videos. He did the YouTube thing quite well. His videos were (and still are) hilarious, entertaining, and offending. Bo, now a sophomore at New York University, proves that the road from YouTube celebrity to accomplished touring, record-deal holding comedian isn’t one well-traveled. On Words, Words, Words, there’s a fine mix of studio and live material; the latter was recorded during a one night stand at Carolines on Broadway in New York City. Bo starts the record off by mocking modern pop music on the first two tracks. Bo sings on “Words, Words, Words,” “I hate catchy choruses and I’m a hyppocrite” after rapping about Oedipus being the first mother fucker. Touche. “Oh Bo” is full of hooks and modern “pop” structural techniques — autotune, cheesy choruses, break-downs, triumphant bridges, and the like. The breakdown on that tune is particularly effective. Bo mouths, “My success is your success! I know you may be thinking ‘hey if you really believe that, why don’t you use some of your money to help rebuild the neighborhood instead of putting spinning rims on a gold jet ski?'” but before Bo can answer them back, he jumps back into the silly chorus! “What’s Funny” features some of Bo’s best verses. “Fuck my life. I don’t fuck my wife. So fuck my wife and fuck my life…the radical feminists made my wife a man!” He humors himself with word play and advanced connections amongst people, places, and things and this brilliance alone make him one of the best in the game of musical comedy. “Men & Women” has Burnham comparing the two genders and coming up with some of the greatest shit you’ve never come up with! “Women can fake orgasms, but men can fake love!” “Men are like Nazis because they both caused the Holocaust.” “Men and women. It’s black and white with an area of gray for hermaphrodites.” For prime examples of irony, check out the aptly titled “Ironic.” “I got my girlfriend pregnant on my sterile uncle’s pull out couch!” is just one of the many. “Rant” is Bo’s diatribe on the subject matter of the Catholic Church. He runs through a description of the mass from the point of view of somebody listening to their iPod in the back pew before envisioning a church in which ” you can be a benedict if you’ve been a dick under benedict but you can’t have benedicts because there’s only one pope and only one dick.” Like statistics? “Theoretical Dick Jokes” is your track. “The average penis is 5.5 inches. And finally, the average penis length of a man who Googles “average penis length” is 3.5 inches.” Bo weighs in on being an artist on “Art is Dead”: ‘This show has got a budget/And all the poor people way more deserving /Of the money won’t budget. Cause I wanted my name in lights/When I could have fed a family of four/For forty fucking fortnights.” Finally, Bo proves he can do traditional stand-up as well! “What do you call a kid with no arms and an eyepatch? Names.” Everyone has to hear Bo. Look him up on YouTube or go out and buy this CD. The kid’s the man.

Grade: A/A+

Articles, Band Recommendation, CD Review, Music

Album Review: Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs-God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise

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Artist: Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs

Full Title: God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise

Year: 2010

Label: RCA

 This Mainer just released an album that 1971 would go crazy over. So take a trip up to Bangor, Maine, climb a mountain, light up a doobie, and put those head phones on. “God Willin’” is an unforgettable trip. Ray recorded this album in his farm home-turned studio in just a few weeks with his new band, The Pariah Dogs. Heartache and soul have never sounded so pristine.

The album kicks off with “Repo Man.” You know LaMontagne and the guys are jammin’ today. The track is a classic style blues riff with a modern twist. Phrases like “Didn’t take long fore’ I begin to see, that you got eyes for every man on the street” never sounded better. LaMontagne sure as hell ain’t your repo man! “New York City’s Killing Me” seems to be a personal take on a small country boy hitting the big city. The first single off the album, “Beg Steal or Borrow” sounds like Neil Young on steroids. “Are We Really Through” is undoubtedly the most beautiful ballad Ray has released. The quiet guitar pluckings will easily silence a room. The album ends with an upbeat track you will likely play at your next cookout “Devil’s in the jukebox.”

Though there is not a smash hit like “You Are the Best Thing” or “Hold You in my Arms,” this is still a fantastic album. “God Willin’” is only ten songs. The important thing here is that none of them lag. Each song is fresh, and when all is said and done, you will find Ray held your interest from start to finish. The album doesn’t explore anything new, or try to be bold. That’s perfectly fine! Simplicity works best for Ray and we all know it. Nothing gets in the way of his soothing vocal tones. Kudos to Ray and the boys, they we’re selling more records than over produced artists like Drake and Justin Bieber on the billboard charts. It’s nice to see an artist not using autotune or electronic beats being appreciated. That’s quite the accomplishment for a little ole’ country man. “God Willin’” is great fun, and the ideal soundtrack for your Fall season.

1. Repo Man-10

2. New York City’s Killing Me-10

3. God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise- 9

4. Beg Steal or Borrow-9

5. Are We Really Through-10

6. This Love is Over-8

7. Old Before Your Time-10

8.  For the Summer-9

9. Like Rock & Roll Radio-9

10. Devil’s in the Jukebox-10

 Grade: A-