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09 March 2006

Airport 81, Put Your Squares Together (Breathing Room) Rating: 6
Ever wonder why you couldn't get the Super Mario Bros. theme song out of your head? So do a lot of bands. Though they don't hit the same emotional peaks that video-game poppers Tree Wave do, Airport 81 still make a valiant effort on their debut LP, Put Your Squares Together. Aside from a few vocal shout-outs, this is a pure instrumental album, largely structured in pop-rock numbers with a helluva lot of keyboards. The band fortunately never locks up into huge jam-based techno grooves - each song has a shifting and changing dynamic, sometimes bubbling keys slithering along at one moment, sometimes full-on rock bass guitar the next. Highlights like "Go Fly a Kite" and the new wave-y "Hectometre" make you believe this might be a completely valid subgenre of music, while closer "Trouble on the Assembly Line" sort of makes you glad that MIDI is on the downfall. They have yet to make their own catchy Tetris theme song, but damn they're coming close. [Insound]
      — Evan Sawdey
"Bonus Jack": [MP3]
"Go Fly a Kite": [MP3]

Alice in Videoland, Outrageous! (Storming) Rating: 5
On their sophomore album, techno-pop tarts Alice in Videoland use the template they established with their debut, 2003's Maiden Voyage, and, well, record exactly the same record all over again. The formula is fairly simple: Take a high-tempo mix of clubby synth programming, add a smidgeon of live rock instrumentation, and cap it all off with a blonde female vocalist in Toril Lindqvist who marries the "I got attitude" singing styles of Gwen Stefani and Missing Persons' Dale Bozzio. With rare exception, AiV prove themselves to be a purpose-built machine whose sole objective is to get you to move your body, don't drop, never stop, keep it going, feel the burn, dance all night, go, go, go. If this is all you require from an album, then Outrageous! is more than adequate to the task. Nearly every track keeps the energy pumping enough to keep your heart rate at hummingbird level. But, really, this is dumb music. Lindqvist's lyrical sketches of human mating rituals are thin and feel tossed-off. Musically, the band are equally uninventive, albeit highly effective. If electroclash is dead, then so is the wonderful layer of irony associated with that genre. Alice in Videoland will have you burning calories with renewed vigor, but don't go digging for anything deeper. It's not there. — Michael Keefe [Insound]
Outrageous!: [player]

The Pacific, The Pacific (Swing House) Rating: 6
You learn something new every day! I didn't know Los Angeles had a river, who knew? Okay, back to this review. The Pacific resembles a pop rock band that will always make fine power pop tracks in the vein of Odds but won't get the respect. "American Crime Song" is a decent, hook-tinged tune led by singer Curt Barlage. "Come On, Come Down" is another okay song that is catchy in a Bash & Pop kind of way but one you won't find yourself replaying over and over. "Keeping Me Around" is the winding kind of rock track that keeps your interest throughout with the brief power chords. Just as pleasing, if not more pleasing, is the slower, Beatles-esque "Don't You Know". It is generally an album of hit, hit and miss, as "Eastern Son" is strong but "Post-Stardom Era" is rather weak and doesn't play to their strengths at all. The highlight might be how well "Drunk Stumbling Suitcase" comes off with its summer driving feel and up-tempo groove. The album's dark horse could be "Mexico to Tokyo" that is rowdy and ragged and all the better as a result. Another poppy nugget that falls just outside the box is "Actors, Photographers & Designers". — Jason MacNeil [Insound]

The Films, The Films EP (Filter US) Rating: 7
Banging out a three-song EP (or maxi-single, as they call it) will never make or break a band, but The Films deliver a trio of tunes that couldn't serve as a better introduction. The Films mix the swagger of a '60s soul-inspired rock band with perfect pop choruses. It's the grit of The Rolling Stones with the polish of The Beatles. Moving from the ragged waltz of "That Kind of Day" to the catchy background vocals of "Come On", this collection has little room for improvement. Of course, the biggest question involves the band's ability to stretch their ideas into a full-length album. There's nowhere to go but straight down. — David Bernard [Insound]

The Sleepers, Birthday (Slug) Rating: 3
Remember that time when Sonic Youth ruled the universe? Well, some argue they still do, and those some might be right (to a degree). They're one of the most influential groups to appear in the past 20 years, but influence and exact-imitation is a tricky line to cross - Denver-bred The Sleepers fail to see the difference. While "C'mon Frank" is a great late-era Breeders knock-off song if there ever was one, the group tends to generally fly between bland Kim Deal guitar ballads ("Milky Way" & "Ely"), and a fairly basic Sonic Youth imitation that doesn't even come close to holding a Daydream Nation candle. Like that kid in a Beginning Acting class who tries to be DeNiro in his first-ever scene (and fails miserably), here is a group that needs to get over their hero worship in order to craft original songs that sound like the Sleepers - not a poor man's art-rock band. [Insound]
      — Evan Sawdey
"Hier Am Main": [MP3]
"Honey": [MP3]

.: posted by Editor 8:40 AM