About Author: Morgan

Rockers, The Danvilles’ latest LP, Women is a quick shot of equal parts garage swagger, 50s charm and blues heartache; all wrapped up in a 23-minute package.

Michael Hindert, Gary Schaaf, Dex Fontaine, Anthony and Kenny Pirog combined their musical efforts to create an album devoid of superfluous nonsense and overt production.  The end result is a 10-pack of straight-ahead jams that sound better than any Jack White penned ego trip.

If you’re like me (and I’m not sure why you’d want to be) and you’re on the hunt for some rock that harkens back to a time before ProTools and fancy studios, The Danvilles are your prey.  One spin of Women and you’ll want to crank tracks like, “Somethin’ to Say,” “Good to Go” and “Cold Sweat.”  Here’s hoping these cats don’t get roped into some car/iProduct/clothing commercial and stick to what they’re good at: kicking out the jams.

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So Cal pop-rock act, The Heaven Switch¸ is set to your daughter/girlfriend/wife’s new favorite musical obsession with their debut, self-titled album.

With the supreme pop sensibility of One Republic and rock vibes of Jack’s Mannequin; Ryan Calhoun—sole, driving force behind The Heaven Switch—has crafted more of the same sugary-sweet, mother approved fodder for middle America.  The album should have been titled Playing Hooky as it lends to the overall harmless nature of the sound and the amount of earworms contained within.

There’s nothing new or interesting found on this album as this saccharine coated formula has been done to death a million times before.  The Heaven Switch will likely have their standard 15 minutes when included on some teen-oriented soap (90210, Gossip Girl et al) or featured in a rom-com soundtrack starring Rachel McAdams, but that’s where the ride will end.  Unfortunately for Calhoun, he’s a very familiar and very small fish in a massively overcrowded pond.  Enjoy the spotlight, because it won’t be around for long.

For fans of top 40 radio, sappy TV shows and Taylor Swift songwriting, The Heaven Switch is going to be your favorite band until the next male pop-rocker shows up to the party.

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Australian goof-balls, Regurgitator’s latest full-length, SuperHappyFunTimesFriends, is 14 tracks of hyper-active silliness paired with legitimate songwriting and production.

Although the group’s roots are planted firmly in rock ‘n’ roll soil, no genre is left untouched on this album.  From pop punk (“Punk Mum”), psychedelic folk (“Super Happy Funtime”), hip hop (“All Fake Everything”) bit-pop (“Game Over Dude”) and electro (“D.M.T 42”).  The rest of the less-than-serious-rock tunes fall neatly somewhere between Fountains of Wayne and Flight of the Concords.

SuperHappyFunTimesFriends is one of those records that the older generation of punk and rock fans can spin with their kids in the car and not mind it.  You know the type, the ones that still wear jeans with holes in the knees, Chuck Taylor shoes and have multiple tattoos and piercings, but work a boring 9-5 gig.  The album is fun enough for the kids with its simple lyrics and hooky melodies, but tongue-in-cheek enough for the parents to latch onto.  Like Shonen Knife or The Aquabats!, Regurgitator strike that perfect balance of adolescence and maturity.  Perhaps they have a future guest-slot on Yo Gabba Gabba! in their future.

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The Active Set – 11

Los Angeles four-piece, The Active Set, has served up a batch of alt-rock tunes that are as fun as they are smart on their debut 11.  Quirky percussion, bouncy bass lines, hooky guitar riffs and pained vocals filtered through a none-too-serious lens leads to equal parts shoegaze indie and beer driven alternative that is tough to categorize, but easy to appreciate.

Singer/bassist Matthew Stolarz, drummer Michael Castro and guitarists Wayne Russell and Francis Ramsden have collectively created a sound that takes the wind out of the supreme seriousness inherent in traditional indie/hipsterism.  If these gents teach us nothing else, at the very least they allow for some sunshine into otherwise irony-laden, dour days.  From the opening riffs of “Let the Games Begin” to the fading, danceable lines of “Famous for Dying” it becomes clear that if there’s a message to be found in 11, its one of taking life seriously but enjoying it at the same time.

Album highlights include the introspective, lyrically universal “Sea Legs,” the bubbly “Let the Games Begin,” the future Apple commercial fodder “Famous for Dying” and the darkened dancehall atmosphere of “Counting out Your Life.”  Fans of Bloc Party, Kasabian and Phantom Planet would do well to get their ears wrapped around 11.  Get your hands on it here.

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LA rockers, The Dreaming, have released a wallop of a sophomore album in Puppet.  Building off of the hard hitting introduction in their previous album, Etched in Blood, and adding a significant (and welcome) level of electronic flair; The Dreaming has managed to release one of the greatest albums of 2011.

Puppet has seen its fair share of hands touching this album.  The line up for the band has been in a state of constant flux for the better part of three years and several roadblocks were thrown in the way of the album’s release.  As such, there’s a sense of urgency to the entire pace of the record.  Even the more somber themed tracks (“Breathing,” “There will be Blood,” and “Hole”) have a pedal to the metal pace to them.  Puppet is devoid of filler as each track has its own, unique hook and each track packs universal, emotional turmoil into neat three-and-a-half minute packages.

It’s tough to pick some album highlights with a completely solid record, but the band’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “It’s no Good” is fantastic, giving the track some gravitas while maintaining the original electronic swagger.  Lead single, “Every Trace” is catchy as all hell, and also the world’s greatest break-up track.

Get your ears wrapped around Puppet and support this supremely hardworking group.  Even if you’re not a fan of electronically driven
tunes, there’s enough rock hooks to entice anyone.

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We can thank the hipster influence for the overwhelming number of bands/artists that are taking the Thompson Twins, Soft Cell, and Adam Ant music formula—strange appearance, heavy synth programming, quirky vocals—and reanimating it with the help of massive music festivals and advertising.  The unfortunate part, like any music movement, is that only a fraction of the bands included in the movement are worth their salt.  AWOLNATION is one of those acts.

The band’s lively installment for the current deluge of rehashed new wave, Megalithic Symphony, bounces
around your ears like a child with ADHD hopped up on too much sugar.  What separates AWOLNATION from their irony-laden peers is the embracing of different sonic atmospheres for different settings.  Megalithic Symphony swings from sorority sing along sessions (“Jump on My Shoulders,” “Wake Up”); hipster binge-drinking, freak-out sessions (“Soul Wars,” “Burn it Down”); and pseudo-dubstep, downtown club scenes (“People,” “Sail”).

I’m not quite sold on this current trend in music as it seems too easy for “artists” to jump on to (thanks ProTools, Macbooks et al) but if cats like Aaron Bruno can at least have some brilliant vocal moments in
between the blips and bloops in their compositions, there is a tiny glimmer of hope.  Just don’t get sponsored by American Apparel or Tom’s shoes and we should be fine.

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Dark rock act, The Rope, has released a modern take on post-punk with their self-titled EP.

Comprised of singer/synth player Jesse Hagon; guitarist Mike Browning; bassist Sam Richardson and drummer Matt Evans, The Rope deliver shadow-cloaked tunes that lie somewhere between Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke and The Psychedelic Furs.  Evans and Richardson keep the beat consistent and up tempo while Browning’s riffs balance between atmospheric and driving and Hagon’s vocals invoke the spirit of Ian Curtis and Richard Butler at the same time.  The end result is six tracks that would do well to be spun in any goth club.

Since this EP arrived in my hands, it has yet to leave my regular rotation in my truck stereo.  My only gripe with it is the length—I want more!  I look forward to more from The Rope, eagerly.

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Alt-rockers, Youth Sounds, combine the chilled out vibes of The Shins with the synth lines of Shiny Toy Guns and manage to produce something altogether . . . sleepy.  In repeat listening sessions to Tomorrow  and Tomorrow and Tomorrow I kept waiting for the energy level to pop.  Sadly, it goes from casual stroll to mild trot.

The whispered vocal, though pleasant, reminds me of the Supreme Beings of Leisure while some of
the electronic pulses beg for a bigger room to bounce around in.  Lyrically, the band is great.  Erika Mejia pours her heart out on each track and has a simplicity that anyone could connect with.  It’s such a shame that there’s little to draw the listener in, sonically.

It’s not to say Tomorrow . . .  is completely unlistenable, rather each song has the same pace and complete lack of excitement which causes the EP to blur together and making it almost instantly forgettable.

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