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12 October 2005

Kicker, Our Wild Mercury Years (The Track and Field Organization) Rating: 8
I tend to gravitate towards bands across the pond more often than not. Call it a sickness. However, when a group like Kicker comes around, it's a blessing and not a curse. Think Go-Betweens in their priceless, precious heyday and you will absolutely be rapt by "One Summer" featuring Jill Drew on violin. Melodic, timeless qualities are the basis of each track, whether Drew takes lead vocals on the Beautiful South-like "Blue" or the lovely "Ghosts" featuring Phil Sutton carrying the song. It's eerie to think how easily they pull off this often attempted, rarely successful approach with nuggets like "Doris Dear" that sounds like a refined Belle and Sebastian. Only on "Local Gentry" does Kick drop the ball slightly with a dual lead vocal resembling The New Pornographers. They atone for it later on the spectacular toe-tapping romp that is "Since You Left" that brings Scottish group Texas to mind. Other A-list ditties include the highbrow pop of the Petty-like "Now That the Autumn Is Here" that conjures up images of kicking up fallen leaves. After a slower, relaxing "Waiting on a Friend"-like "After Dark", Kicker kicks it up a notch or four with "Get Rid of Him". A consistently excellent batch of ear candy! [Amazon]
      — Jason MacNeil

Weerd Science, Friends and Nervous Breakdowns (Equal Vision) Rating: 2
Joshua Eppard, the drummer of emo-prog group Coheed and Cambria, has decided to go the solo route and drop a rap album. While this is the obvious cue for some kind of drummer joke, Eppard's album is a joke enough. Calling himself Weerd Science, Eppard has taken the goofy raps he does with friends at his home in Kingston, New York, and decided that they're good enough for the general public. Falling somewhere between the Jerky Boys and Eminem, Friends and Nervous Breakdowns is a thoroughly juvenile, completely forgettable mess of skits and songs that have all the resonance of a whoopee cushion on the math teacher's chair. Whether making the dangerously absurd claim that if he was black, he would have a record contract, or continually referring to women as "cunts", Eppard's attempts to emulate gangsta rap icons fall embarrassingly short. His press materials claim the album has "tongue in cheek smirk throughout", but it's difficult to find the humor in lyrics like: "Girl (listen up cunt) I gotta tell you something / If you really knocked up by my homie / I'ma punch you in the stomach"; "Dad? I need to borrow $300 / $300? What for son? / Well I got Jenny knocked up again! / Son did I ever tell you about your mother and the wire-hanger?" or... you know what, this isn't even worth the time. If you're a hip-hop fan, you're probably too busy listening to Late Registration or Be to be concerned with this novelty release and Coheed and Cambria fans, keep your money in your wallet -- their new album is coming out this fall anyway. [Amazon]
      — Kevin Jagernauth

Hootie and the Blowfish, Looking for Lucky (Sneaky Long) Rating: 4
Chances are, you know what this sounds like. That's right, Hootie and the Blowfish circa 2005 is mostly indistinguishable from Hootie and the Blowfish circa 1994, when the band released its bajillion-selling debut, Cracked Rear View. Looking for Lucky is more jangly adult contemporary pop rock courtesy of the raspy voiced dude and his painfully vanilla band. Darius Rucker displays none of the vocal chops or evocative emoting of his surprisingly strong solo effort, insisting on adorning every song with the inoffensive growl that garnered so many listeners back in the good ol' days. Admittedly, there are a few deviations from the rule: "Leaving" and "Waltz Into Me" are surprisingly strong entries into the trad-country arena complete with fiddles and mandolins from Sam Bush, and "Free to Everyone" tempers its mid-tempo rock beat with an extended, fast-paced bridge. "One Love" even evokes some of the better qualities of early hit "Let Her Cry", except in a love-thy-neighbor sense more suited to our socially conscious times. Everyone who thought Hootie was a hoot (ha) before won't find anything to dissuade them of such an opinion on Looking for Lucky. The rest of us can wait/hope for the country album. [Amazon]
      — Mike Schiller

Snatches of Pink, Stag (MoRisen)
Music reviews often use words like "ethereal", "limnal" and "angular" to describe sounds and textures that seem to defy description through more pedestrian terms. Those not in the know are left to hear enough things characterized by the terms in question until they understand what they mean. Here's an easy one: Wonder what music sounds like when it is "swaggering"? Stag, the latest disc from North Carolina quartet Snatches of Pink, is all the explanation you need. The songs on this disc, all written by the lone original SOP member, Michael Rank, have a carefree, bluesy strut that oozes detached arrogance. When the band clicks, that arrogance is justified. But for too much of this disc, its stabs at ragged glory sound like an aging garage band in dire need of a metronome. Guitars slash and drums thump, but rarely do they do so in time. The sequencing here creates a disc that feels like a perfect bell curve; the songs become increasingly assured until the magnificent fifth track, the riff-driven "Painted Gun", before falling off into what sound like rehearsal tapes for a Royal Trux cover band. The early incarnations of Snatches of Pink, particularly the group that included erstwhile Let's Active drummer Sarah Romweber and which recorded SOP's best disc, Bent With Pray, were able to paint Rank's slightly menacing gothic compositions with appropriate Southern indie rock colors. His current combo is all bludgeon, no nuance. That would be a greater shame if the songs felt like they deserved better. [Amazon]
      — John Kenyon

.: posted by Editor 8:11 AM