What’s happening? Total utility is increasing and marginal utility is decreasing. If I listened to a great fourth album, this whole thing would be fucked up because at a certain point I’m supposed to derive zero marginal utility from listening to more than ______ albums. Albums with zero marginal utility or negative marginal utility are essentially nuisances. Even if I illegally download albums for zero cost, the entire process could become a nuisance to me. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to review all the albums that I downloaded. In that case, maybe I will give those albums lower scores because I didn’t bother to completely listen to them. These downloaded albums would become “bads” because they serve no utility to me at all. Also, why should I review a great number of albums if I am not getting paid? Wouldn’t it be most useful to review just one album a week and spend a lot of time examining it?
Band: Hunx and His Punx Label: True Panther Sounds Release: 2009
1. “You Don’t Like Rock ‘N Roll” – 9.5 2. “Gimmie Gimmie Back Your Love” – 8.6 3. “Hey Rocky” – 9.3
4. “Movin’ On” – 8.6 5. “Cruising” – 9.6
6. “Good Kisser” – 9.2 7. “Don’t Cha Want Me Back” – 8.3 8. “The Last Time” – 8.5 9. “Teardrops On My Telephone” – 9.0 10. “I Won’t Get Under You” – 8.6 11. “You Better Tell That Girl” – 9.0 12. “Do the Make Up” – 8.9
Comments: As Chris said in a concert review from October 3, “If you think you have seen homocore or queercore, then look again. Hunx and His Punx is just about as gay as it gets and unabashedly so.” If you ignore the hilariously creepy/flamboyant lyrics, these are pretty damn awesome glam pop-punk songs. You know, basic chord structures playing underneath an effeminate voice. Let’s not ignore lyrics for one second. Take “Hey Rocky,” which is about a gay one night stand with said man. Lyrics alone could be offensive to many, but a plethora of popular hip-hop/pop songs today are just as disgusting/immoral as this. You can’t make the claim that these songs aren’t catchy. Musically, they are as fun as can be. “I’ve got so many fellas, I make all the ladies jealous. Just hope they’re playing on my team,” hollers Hunx on “Cruisin’.” A typical immediate reaction might be: “Oh my…gay!” And that was my reaction. Try watching 10 seconds of the music video. But..but…”Cruisin'” is easily one of the rhythmically catchiest songs on here.
Band: Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) Label: Rough Trade Release: November 3, 2009
1. “Out of the Blue” – 9.6 2. “Left & Right In The Dark” – 9.1 3. “11th Dimension” – 9.9 4. “4 Chords of the Apocalypse” – 8.8 5. “Ludlow St.” – 8.9 6. “River of Breaklights” – 9.2 7. “Glass” – 9.3 8. “Tourist” – 9.5
Comments: If I had my ways, I would wish every song on here would be as great as “11th Dimension.” That’s not the case, but what we have here is a very noteworthy effort from Casablancas. He loves his synths and drum beats and he sure loves changing things up from track to track. As for the Strokes comparisons…you’ll (obviously) hear it in his voice, but the instrumentation is very different for the most part. Overall, this should land in top 20 lists for ’09, but I’d be fooled to see it appear as one of the very best.
Yellow House for me. By at least a margin of 10 points. I don’t think anything on Veckatimest is as amazing as “Colorado” or “Knife.” What do you think?
The band didn’t mean much to me besides “Finding Out True Love Is Blind.” At least I can say I got to hear that song live.
Brian Karscig says this: “Never say never to another LXIV record…just not anytime soon.
Brian Karscig has apparently left the band and started group The Nervous Wreckords after stating, “Louis XIV started to feel more like a business than a camaraderie, and in that, the music started to suffer and started feeling uninspired”
Jason Hill is also working with other bands in the studio and on solo material as wel
Brian Karscig, “The memories, love and pride i have for LOUIS XIV (Jason, Mark, Jimmy,) are undying…It just felt right to walk away now and to pursue an uninhibited creative outlet, was the right thing for me to do as an artist. Making music should never have to be a forced thing, or a chore…it should bring happiness and a desire to live, and that’s what I’m doing for now.”
Band: Weezer Label: Geffen Records Release: November 3, 2009
1. “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” – 8.9 2. “I’m Your Daddy” – 8.0 3. “Run Over By A Truck” – 7.8 4. “The Girl Got Hot” – 7.5 5. “The Prettiest Girl In The Whole Wide World” – 7.9 6. “Can’t Stop Partying” – 4.4 7. “The Underdogs” – 5.5 8. “Put Me Back Together” – 6.4 9. “Tripping Down The Freeway” – 7.3 10. “Love Is The Answer” – 7.7 11. “Let It All Hang Out” – 6.5 12. “In The Mall” – 6.1 13. “I Don’t Want To Let You Go” – 5.8 14. “Turn Me Around” – 6.2
Background: Weezah! Okay I’ve spent maybe 30 minutes total in my lifetime listening to these guys. I think”Undone” is pretty sweet as well as “Say It Ain’t So” and maybe their cover of “Velouria” too. I do remember listening to their 2008 release a little bit. Pretty average from what I remember.
The Real Deal: Not going to joke around here, I was hoping this album would be worse than Bonnie “Prince Billy’s Beware. That was effectively the worst album I’ve heard all year. This album starts off pretty great, I’m not going to lie. “I Want You To” is a nice upbeat pop number. But then… “I Can’t Stop Partying” is just dumb. It’s like “I Gotta Feeling” except even more pathetic. Besides maybe three songs maximum (that sound similar to something out of the Louis XIV catalog), I get a sense that Weezer is just dabbling in a plethora of rock genres. It seems like they recorded a bunch of intrinsically different songs and simply slapped them on here. So yeah, this is the worst album that I’ve reviewed all year. Got anything worse?
