Author: David Medsker (Page 55 of 96)

Paper Route: Are We All Forgotten EP

July 18, 2008 / David Medsker

The most shocking thing about Are We All Forgotten, the perky little EP from the Nashville quartet Paper Route, is the label that’s daring to release it. Apparently, Universal Motown didn’t get the memo that, as Eminem once bluntly put it, nobody listen to techno. Their “mistake,” as it were, is our gain, because this is one nifty collection of ambient electronic pop. The title song is the clear standout, armed with a skittery drum track and more jangly guitar than that entire La’s album. Lead singer Chad Howat’s tenor has a bit of Carl Newman to it at times, notably on “Empty House,” and the band is keen to balance the earnestness of the lyrics with plenty of ‘hoo hoos’ and ‘ha has.’ Gorgeous stuff. Looking forward to the full-length album. (Low Altitude/Universal Motown)

Paper Route MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica, Pop

Hit the Lights: Skip School, Start Fights

July 18, 2008 / David Medsker

There is an episode of “The Simpsons” where a record producer has Bart, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph sing into microphones that are hooked up to a machine that makes them sound like N’Sync (“Thank you, NASA,” the producer says). After listening to Hit the Lights’ Skip School, Start Fights, you will be inclined to believe that this machine actually exists, and nearly every emo band that put out an album in the last five years has used it. The problem is that instead of sounding like Justin Timberlake, you get a nasal, whiny, pinched tenor (must still be in the beta testing stage). Hit the Lights are not awful, mind you; they’re just unoriginal and derivative. Their songs are a series of Something Corporate-style vocals melded to breakdowns straight from your favorite My Chemical Romance song, so if you like that sort of thing, then odds are you’ll like this, too. But don’t let that album title fool you: the last thing these boys want to do is cause trouble. They sing of sobering up and staying out all night, getting you to break up with your miserable whore of a girlfriend, and getting out of “this bitter town,” presumably the band’s hometown of Lima, OH. They’re trying to sound like angst-ridden tough guys, but they’re far too cute and harmless to pass for menacing. It makes you wonder if they are even aware that their band name is a Metallica song. (EastWest)

Hit the Lights MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Sunny Day Sets Fire: Summer Palace

July 11, 2008 / David Medsker

You can usually tell everything you need to know about a band by their name – Staind, Crystal Method, Motorhead, etc. – and then there are bands like the inexplicably named Sunny Day Sets Fire, who will likely turn off the very people who will love them before they’ve heard a note because of their name alone. For the record, they are far more about sunny days than setting fires, and Summer Palace, the debut album from the UK-based band – their members are from Italy, Hong Kong, Canada and England – is one of the year’s finest, a delirious mix of New Pornographers-style smart pop and psychedelic tinges that bring to mind Flaming Lips and Polyphonic Spree. “End of the Road” sports a spaghetti western guitar hook, while “Stranger” is straight-up bouncy power pop, and “All Our Songs” will make A.C. Newman green with envy. To carry the New Pornographers comparison a step further, some songs sound like Newman-written songs while others, namely “I Dream Along” and the (annoying) “Map of the World,” could have been the work of Dan Bejar. It all adds up to one of the most adventurous and rewarding pop records you’ll hear all year. More, please. (IAMSOUND Records)

Sunny Day Sets Fire MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Kasper from the K: Whatcha Gondo EP

July 4, 2008 / David Medsker

Yes, his rhythmic style is little more than a combination of Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg, but there is something charming about Kentucky white boy Kasper from the K (Timothy Hoggard to his mother). Maybe it’s the fact that he accepts that he’s a white boy, and forgoes the cliché hardcore gangsta scene in favor of sleazy club jams. And man, are these songs sleazy: there isn’t a moment on the Whatcha Gondo EP where Kasper isn’t talking or thinking about getting’ him some freaky. The super freak path is a slippery one, though; go too far, and you come off as a serial rapist, but Kasper is more fast-talking himbo than roofie-slipping perv. And with a calling card like the super-catchy, “Obsession”-cribbing title track, he is going to be up to his eyeballs in women for the foreseeable future. Isn’t that the primary reason why guys get into music in the first place? Sure, “Whatcha Gondo” might wind up as the “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back to My Room)” of the new millennium, but as long as it helps him score women, we doubt Kasper will care much about his long-term legacy. (EO Music)

Kasper from the K MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Hip Hop, Rap

Hercules and Love Affair: Hercules and Love Affair

June 27, 2008 / David Medsker

It may sound like the ultimate insult to call an album a dance record for people who don’t dance anymore, but let’s face it; most of the people who went club hopping in the late ‘80s simply don’t dance anymore, but they’re going to love Hercules and Love Affair, the collective effort by Andrew Butler and a small army of friends. Ranging from Inner City-style house (“You Belong”) to brooding, Shriekback-ish dark grooves (“Easy”), the album has both Thievery Corporation cool and traditional dance pop sensibilities. “Blind” goes back even further in time, rocking a full-on disco groove, and the sincerity of the performance is as convincing an argument for the awesomeness of early disco as you’ll ever hear. Hercules and Love Affair is, quite literally, groovy stuff. More, please. (Mute)

Hercules and Love Affair MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica, Pop