Tag Archives: Dance-Punk

CD Review, Entertainment, Music

CD Review: Future Breeds [2010]

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Band: Hot Hot Heat
Release: 6/2010
Label: Warner/Dangerbird

1. “YVR” – B+
2. “21@12” – B
3. “Times A Thousand” – B-
4. “Implosionatic” – B
5. “Goddess on the Prairie” – A-
6. “Zero Results” – B+
7. “Future Breeds” – B
8. “JFK’s LSD” – C+
9. “Jedidah” – C
10. “Buziness Az Uzual” – B-
11. “What Is Rational?” – C+
12. “Nobody’s Accusing You (Of Having A Good Time)” – B-

Comments: Poor Hot Hot Heat. Their debut album Make Up the Breakdown [Sub Pop, 2002] was positively reviewed for the most part. It was a goodie, I’ll admit. Since they’ve effectively “sold out” by signing to Warner Music, they’ve been kind of slapped around by both mainstream and independent music critics. Guitarist and Wolf Parade member Dante Decaro jumped off the band’s ship in 2005. Hot Hot Heat opened for Snow Patrol and Editors — two UK bands that have barely garnered major audiences stateside — in 2007 and 2008, before hitting the drawing board for this album.  If the band aimed to do anything notable on here, it was making up screwy song titles. Also, the band would probably win an award for “band that most sounds like Head Automatica.” The latter is actually nice in a strange way…HA hasn’t put out a record in four years. To start off with the good…the band knows how to craft catchy songs in the dance-punk genre. If you dig the singer’s voice, you’ll most likely be satisfied by the music. For some, though, this may pose a challenge. Three releases after going major, it’s not like the band is purposely “forced” to make something commercial. This thing isn’t forced at all. It seems like the group is just as creatively spirited as it was on its debut. “Goddess…” is full of hooks and straight up fun. It seems HHH took some cues from Spoon for that song and the next. Even though “JFK” is noisy and memorable and all…it’s overload. Chill out, dudes. The second half of the album takes on a more serious tone…for the worst.

Grade: B- (82)

CD Review, Entertainment, Music

Classic Album Review: Turn It Up Faggot

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Band: Deerhunter
Release: 2005
Label: Stickfigure Records

1. “N. Animals” – A+
2. “Adorno” – A++
3. “Tech School” – A-
4. “Ponds” – A
5. “Language/Violence” – A
6. “Oceans” – A-
7. “Basement” – A-
8. “Young Layer” – B-
9. “Death Drag” – A-

Comments: I turned it up, but I’m not a faggot. This shit is pretty much dance-punk at its finest. Crazy dances that is. Don’t expect to grind or do the cha-cha slide, you gotta friggin’ blast this and just do the craziest shit you can conjure up. Like seriously LCD Soundsystem couldn’t even come up with this type of genius. I’m sort of surprised Bradford hates it, I mean there’s nothing to be ashamed of, except maybe a couple (tops) of tracks. It’s a complete volte-face from all of his other music, but still. Definitely, this is solid material for college radio stations. Yeah, a lot of the songs are based on the same ideas of noise and repetition, but it’s not facetious like Lightning Bolt.

Final Grade: A- (92)

CD Review, Entertainment, Music

CD Review: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

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Band: Franz Ferdinand
Release: 2009
Label: Domino Records

1. “Ulysses” – 9.2
2. “Turn It On” – 9.7
3. “No You Girls” – 9.7
4. “Twilight Omens” – 9.5
5. “Send Him Away” – 9.1
6. “Live Alone” – 8.8
7. “Bite Hard” – 9.4
8. “What She Came For” – 9.1
9. “Can’t Stop Feeling” – 9.3
10. “Lucid Dreams” – 9.6
11. “Dream Again” – 8.8
12. “Katherine Kiss Me” – 9.8

Background: Everyone remembers “Take Me Out.” Unfortunately, I never got the chance to listen to any more of Franz Ferdinand since they released that in 2004. The band stayed on independent label Domino even after that song exploded. Listening to “Take Me Out” for the first time in five years reminded me that this band is like many other video game soundtrack, slightly-below-the-mainstream bands (Hot Hot Heat, Louis XIV, The Bravery) with their fun dance punk.  Case in point for their quick breakthrough: they went from playing the teeny T.T The Bears in 2004 to playing the newly built Agganis Arena in 2006?

What’s On This Album: “Turn It On” is awesome and so is “No You Girls”! Check those out for sure. It’s almost hard not to enjoy listening to Franz! I’d even argue that this is more likable than something slightly similar (and on the same label) like Humbug by Arctic Monkeys, although Tonight has a lot of the same beats/bass lines that make these songs so good, but inevitably individually forgettable. “Can’t Stop Feeling” might be an exception to what I just said. It’s got this really heavy synthesizer and general swagger that isn’t easy to forget. Franz, I conclude, prides itself on anthemic choruses and bridges for survival. They don’t sell themselves out by doing this, but you got to admit that they probably work off a very limited number of song structures to create their musical goodness. They change it up for the last song “Katherine Kiss Me,” which is an acoustic The Veils-esque power ballad. They couldn’t make an album out of songs that sound like this, but this has to be easily one of the best on here.

Grade: 9.3