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RSSShotgun CD Reviews #119874675
Now that it’s finally looking like summer in this little beach town, I’m finding it a little difficult to get the posts out, but I just got a new batch of CDs in from secondspin that I’m dying to tear into, so I really needed to get these reviewed and out the door…
New Bomb Turks - !!Destroy-Oh-Boy!! (punk): My initial introduction to the New Bomb Turks was later in their career when their music was more of a Social Distortion punkabilly style than a straight-on Dead Kennedys punk. This album, however, was the New Bomb Turks first album, and is nothing like I expected. There’s no rockabilly. It is straight punk right down to the recording style. To me, to sound authentic, a punk record has to have the treble turned up as high as the energy, and the recording quality has to be as low as the bass. It also has to be relatively simple, slightly sloppy, and thoroughly disorderly. Each song should get in, do the damage, and get out before the listener knows what happened. And this record is super high high energy and spot-on for the sound and feel. The only drawback of the style is that songs start to blend together, but that is par for the course in this genre. B
Descendents - Cool to Be You (punk): My first introduction to the Descendents was a song called “I Like Food” and all I can remember about it was that it was under a minute and they just screamed “I Like food, food tastes good,” which my teenage ears thought was total punk rock. By the time this album came out almost 20 years later, the Descendents and I had grown up a little. The material is still tongue in cheek, but it’s stuff that I can relate to in my 30’s and might’ve dismissed more easily were I still a teenager. Then again, the punk feel is still there in lyrics like “It must be cool to be you / It must be cool to know you belong” that might ring true with me at nearly any age. I would never say that this is music for punks who grew up and got jobs, but it’s accessible enough that #1GF! can get through the whole disc, but punky enough that she couldn’t get through it often. I picked this disc up from lala.com and it ate a fair portion of listening time this round. (More info on the Descendents can be found at their home at Fat Wreck Chords.) B+
Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing (metalcore): Killswitch is an anomaly to me. They have the staccato rhythms and grunting vocals of metalcore, but they’re punctuated with melodic interludes that seem to be more geared to a radio crowd. Alive or just Breathing was the second release from this Massachusetts band, and while I’m not truly excited about it, I find that it’s an enjoyable ride the whole way through. If I’m in the mood for palm muted, chunky guitar, this album has it. If I’m in the mood to scale things back a little from the heavy side of the metal scale, it does that, too. On the flip side, while the heavy parts drip with double bass, the vocal interludes leave me wanting when I’m in the mood for something heavy. It’s like the half and half of metalcore. If you like their latest release “The End of Heartache” this is more of the same. B
Tsunami Bomb - The Definitive Act (pop punk): I have to thank Pandora for introducing me to Tsunami Bomb. The now defunct California pop-punk band broke up last year citing music business issues, and consisted of female vocals over driving, distorted pop-punk. I normally review stuff out of the used bins, but this is probably the first time that I reviewed an album so late that the band had already broken up. Tsunami Bomb is definitely West Coast punk, but it’s not the dirtier LA style. I would probably go so far as to classify it as more of a gritty pop than punk, and honestly, it’s about as gritty as the Donnas at an ice cream party. So, Tsunami Bomb doesn’t earn their punk merit badge, but despite sounding a little low budget, they easily earned their catchy-as-hell patch without much of a problem. I think this is one of those albums that the odds were against me finding, but I’m happy I came across it. B+
SpineShank - Self Destructive Pattern (metalpop): According to Liveplasma.com, Spineshank is closely related to Lamb of God, Hatebreed, and other heavy hitters of metal, and the samples I heard seemed to corroborate it, but when I got this from Lala.com, I was sadly disappointed. It’s not a heavy hitter. Its barely even metal. It’s almost industrial. Maybe if you like radio-friendly “metal” bands like Disturbed, this album might be for you, but I just couldn’t get into it. This is actually the only CD that I’ve received from Lala that I have used a catch and release strategy with. F (but you might like it)
The Ramones - Their Toughest Hits (punk): How can you really review the grandfathers of punk? This is a 30 song greatest hits CD as compiled by Johnny Ramone that I haven’t seen for less than $14 since I’ve been looking for it. I happened to see it for $9 at a used store, so I really couldn’t resist. There is more than enough Ramones classics on this CD for the casual fan. Because of the repetitive nature of the Ramones (and true punk, in general), I started thinking that I was hearing repeats by the album’s halfway point. Due to this, the album got very little play this round, and rarely more than half an album. To me, The Ramones are best listened to when they randomly come up in the MP3 collection to recharge my batteries, rather than left on repeat to drain them. C+
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (pop): I blame this purchase on Enjoy & Exciting. After seeing the star wars video that Keidra posted, I thought that Gnarls Barkley might be something to investigate. After checking out the 30 second samples that I could find, the album seemed like it might be DJ backed twist on 70’s soul. Further investigation turned up that half of Gnarls Barkley is DJ Dangermouse (of Grey Album fame), and although I’m not super impressed with Dangermouse, I figured that it might be worth dropping the $9.99 on to. Ever get one of those “What the Fuck?” CD’s where the samples completely misled you? What I thought was going to be 70’s soul over DJ beats turned out to be more of a guy trying to sound like Patti LaBelle, singing over some unimpressive sampling that a decent DJ might’ve done something more creative with. It even includes a cover of the Violent Femmes “Gone Daddy Gone”, which has to be one of the lamer covers that I’ve heard. To it’s credit, there are a couple of songs on there that I really like, and I think that it’s pretty cool that the album starts and ends with the sound of a projector running (which creates an air of continuity when on repeat), but it’s not enough to get me behind this one. Damned Star Wars marketing. C+
Unearth - The Oncoming Storm (metalcore): Unearth is another Massachusetts metalcore band, and got the most airplay this round by far. Although similar to Killswitch Engage in terms of rhythmic metal, it lacks the distraction of Killswitch’s melodic breaks (ok there’s a couple, but they’re short and followed with dueling guitars and rototoms - doodlydoodly). This is driving, grunting, double bass pedal, Mass metalcore. I don’t know if I’m predisposed to a certain sound because I grew up with the Massachusetts hardcore sound (SSD, Slapshot, Gang Green), but I keep accidentally coming across these Masshole metal bands that I really like. Or maybe it’s that I’m a sucker for Metalblade bands. A-
Unearth - The Stings of Conscience (metalcore) I picked this one up from Lala.com for $1.50 after enjoying The Oncoming Storm so much. Although some of the chunking was bassy enough to sound like a giant pounding on a dungeon door, the low end seems to be turned down a little compared to their latest release. This is a blistering ride all the way through, though. B
Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin (pop): Man cannot live on death alone. Sometimes, I need mindless pop to balance out some of the heavy stuff. This is another one I got from Lala.com for $1.50, and I haven’t really had a chance to listen to it much because it hasn’t been out of #1GF!’s car long enough for me to give it more than a couple of listens. What I heard though was catchy, mindless fun. I can’t wait to listen to it when I have my period. B+
As I Lay Dying - Frail Words Collapse (metal): After picking up “Shadows are Security” and enjoying it on the rides to work, I figured that picking up this one wasn’t much of a risk. When I got it home, I was happily faced with a full-on metal scream fest. While enjoying the album’s range of screams and grunts, imagine my confusion after noticing a lot more god and jesus thanking than is typically found in a metal band’s liner notes. After confirming that the band is a actually a Christian metal band, as surprising as it sounds, I can’t really say that it has tarnished my opinion of the album. This is not Stryper’s “To Hell With the Devil.” Metal lyrics normally don’t concern me anyway, and this is full-on metal no matter what imaginary deity (god/devil) they’re screaming about. Jebus or no Jebus, I’ll tell you that this got a lot of air time this round. B+
Curtis Mayfield - The Very Best of (soul/funk): When I was in my 20’s, I loved Blacksploitation films. Movies like Shaft, Dolemite, and Superfly were not only fun to watch, but they had the cool, cool music to compliment the action. And of those films, I used to think that Superfly had the ultimate soundtrack. It had Pusherman, Freddie’s Dead, and, of course, Superfly. And that soundtrack was pure Curtis Mayfield. Since I’ve recently ended up in a minor funk phase, when I saw this Rhino compilation for $7.99, I had to pick it up. I’m not sure that I appreciate the order of tracks, but Rhino tends to put out thorough compilations and this one is no exception. It includes more than enough tracks for the casual Curtis fan, including a few that might are recognizable as the basis for Kanye West’s Touch the Sky, Ice-T’s Pusherman, or the Beastie Boys’ Eggman. Pick it up and keep it in the pocket of your belted, three-quarter length brown leather jacket. Wica chacka wicka chaka B
July 6th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
Sweet call on the Ramones.
July 6th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
*I second buggsbutt.
*And why didn’t I know about Pandora before this? What hole have I been living in!? I’ve been having all kinds of fun with it today. I think I’ll pull up Dokken and see what I get…
*A little sad about Gnarls–I was really hopin’ to rock the 70s soul/funk/jazz thing with those guys. I love Crazy-it’s such a groovy damn song.
*For good bubblegum popstuff, I’m a big Annie fan these days–all because of Tankboy.
July 14th, 2006 at 11:31 am
I think I liked Gnarls a little more than you did. There are a few tracks that really do live up to the 70’s soul/DJ beats style that you are referring to (”Transformer, Go-Go Gadget Gospel”) stand out for me. But it’s a very dark album, and quite frenetic, in ususal Danger Mouse fashion, and I can see that being a turn off for some, since his style can be a bit off-putting for some.
July 18th, 2006 at 5:21 am
I don’t think it was the darkness of the album as much as the gay dance club feel that I couldn’t really get into. It was like listening to a transvestite Patti LaBelle.