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.
The Roots put a fun, compelling, and gritty story of a man together in “undun,” a concept album about a hustler, Redford Stevens, written in reverse, from death to birth. The tale of the gangster makes stops along the way on important times of his life. It’s a mixture of many different musical styling; great beats, rhythms, guitars, and classical piano work, it makes an album that is laid back, beautiful, and real.
Despite the various guests on the album, who add to and speak for Redford Stevens’ life, (including Phonte, Dice Raw, Bilal Oliver, Truck North, Big K.R.I.T, Greg Porn…among a handful of others) the concept is lost on me. The main concern is that it isn’t the most obvious concept, and just seems like a normal album to me (no story to it). Perhaps I need to brush up on my Roots albums.
The album is spectacular, sliding between genres and styles, from the chill and jazzy “Sleep” to the funky “Kool On” and the gritty beat-pounding and soulful, “the OtherSide”. The record ends with a three-part instrumental that lets ?uestlove beat the shit out of his drum set. Overall, the album is amazing, a true musical masterpiece. Had I listened to this a few weeks earlier, it might have ended up on my top 10 list for 2011.
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.
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.
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.
Sometimes you nonchalantly decide that you are going to just subtly drop one of the best rock albums of the year at the last month of the year. Sometimes that album is called El Camino. Sometimes you are the Black Keys. This is one of those times.
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have been working for over 10 years together, bringing seven great albums to the table as the Black Keys. The latest album, El Camino, is no exception to the classic formula of face-rocking blues rock combined with soul to create a modern-vintage sound. Unlike the past album, the Black Keys have decided to skip the excess amount of soul, and stick to their rock n roll style of their first five albums to create a perfect blend of awesomeness.
Producer/artist/half of Gnarles Barkley, Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton, lends his talent to bring a certain level of retro flair to a band that already has a retro flair, the result: a legitimate retro sound, you might swear was an album lost in the late 60’s/early 70’s. It’s as if Danger Mouse rolled up with a DeLorian time machine and said, “You have to come back with me! It’s your albums! Something has to be done about your albums!”
The album has a garage feel to it, and yet is a polished and refined blast to listen to. It is a more up-tempo album than “Brothers” which is a good direction for the Black Keys, despite how well it was received by critics; I personally felt Brothers was one of their worst albums to date. Carney explained the album’s direction: “After the first three or four songs were recorded, it kind of became apparent that they’re all rooted in this early rock and roll feel. It was around that time that we decided to make a whole album that was built around that.” While some that haven’t listened to any albums besides “Brothers” will describe this as a new direction for the Keys, true fans will know that this album puts them back on track to classic Black Keys goodness.
Bottom line: El Camino is like the car in many respects, it’s ugly, not very fun, and it’s a piece of shit…err, wait. It’s nothing like an El Camino. Nevermind. Maybe its like the Dodge Caravan on the cover of the album, it’s ugly, not very fun, and it’s a piece of shit…umm…maybe I’ll just stop trying to make a simile for this album. Its good stuff.
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.
“I’m the realest motherfucker in the game like Tron, nigga.”
Lines from Childish Gambino’s “You See Me,” a single from his breakout album, a statement couldn’t be more true.
You may recognize Childish Gambino by Donald Glover, actor on comedies such as Community, 30 Rock, YouTube comedy group Derrick Comedy. You might not recognize that he has been rapping for longer than his comedy career, and he is actually quite good. This might help to explain why he is such a talented comedy writer, since to be a rapper you have to be witty and quick on your feet, all of which Childish Gambino is incredible at.
Camp is an effort all on his own, paid for by himself, produced by himself and friend/Community composer Ludwig Goransson, and fueled by passion for quality music and quality hip-hop. The instrumentation is very real, you won’t find any Casio samples here, everything is very well put together. Camp is geared toward an audience that wants to hear something new, hip-hop that is real, and yet not centered around a world of street life. “White kids get to wear whatever hat they want, when it comes to black kids its one size fits all.”
From the song Fire Fly:
It’s hard to make HOV the footsteps you followin’
Especially when your niggas look like Carlton
The pretty girls usin’ skin so soft
Only be likin’ black dudes with their hats broke off
Nigga you act too soft
Fuck you! I’m from the projects
My mom was just workin’ to give me options
No live shows, cause I can’t find sponsors
For the only black kid at a Sufjan concert
Yeah so, whatcha gonna do man?
You won’t speak to the hood, man
If I was given one chance I think I could, man
These black kids want somethin’ new, I swear it
Somethin’ they wanna say but couldn’t cause they embarrassed
All I do is make the stuff I would’ve liked
Reference things I wanna watch, reference girls I wanna bite
Now I’m firefly like a burning kite
And yousa fake fuck like a fleshlight
The album has many different themes and at the core of the album you find a Jekyll and Hide complex with Childish Gambino. One part is a look at his childhood, how he grew up in a culture that he wasn’t accepted as a black kid, or a white kid. The other part is a look at how he had grown from that as a better person, but then ruins it by objectifying women that he wants to have sex with. There are a lot of critics that compare Childish to Drake, (due to the fact that they both rap, sing, and act) however I would say that isn’t a fair to Childish Gambino. Don’t get me wrong, Drake is great; Childish Gambino is in a completely different league. Donald is such an amazing writer that with Camp, he has toped his EP, 13 honest and true Hip-hop tracks, with an astounding diversity in topics. I would be more apt to compare him to Kanye West, since their flow and lyrical content seems to be similar, “You See Me” in particular seems like Donald is trying to be like Kanye, even directly biting some lines from “Watch the Throne.”
Being a well-spoken comedian, it’s only natural that Donald would be a pop-culture referencing machine. From the opening track, “Outside”, he immediately invites you back in time to when he used to sit on the couch and play with his Land Before Time toys from Pizza Hut. The album is littered with a crazy amount of references (Invader Zim, Toejam & Earl, McDonalds napkins, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Fleshlights, Super Smash Brothers, Casey Anthony, Rugrats, Full House, John Mayer’s penis hole). The album ends on a note that perfectly wraps everything up, and takes you into a journal entry after a ride home from “Camp.”
Hard to write this review because I was constantly bombarded by lyrics that the album has to be listened to many times before you hear all the jokes and quips. Lyrically, its dense and very rewarding to the listener.
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.
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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