Category: CD QuickTakes (Page 16 of 149)

Disturbed: Asylum

September 1, 2010 /


RIYL: Godsmack, Staind, Nonpoint

Of all the nu-metallers of a decade ago, Disturbed would have been towards the bottom of most lists of those who would survive the short era. 2000’s The Sickness was perfect for that time: heavy and loaded down with chugging guitars and vocalist David Draiman’s choppy, pseudo-rap styling. Over the years the band has become a rock behemoth, consistently delivering the kind of radio-friendly heaviness that doesn’t send mom to the guidance counselor looking for answers. While hardly the musical takeoff that 2008’s Indestructible was, Asylum delivers some of the band’s best songs yet and confirms that these guys are still angry and motivated.

Disturbed_09

Asylum shows the band settling into the groove established by Indestructible. Disturbed took its biggest leap forward from a technical and production standpoint with that record, and Asylum proves to be a compulsively listenable experience. Guitarist Dan Donegan has transformed before our eyes from a down-tuned shredder to the driving force of the band. He’s simply a one-man wrecking crew. The title track is Donegan Exhibit A, offering a haunting, wah-driven lead with a fist-pumping chorus. He, along with bassist John Moyer and drummer Mike Wengren, may be one of the tightest rhythm sections in the genre today. Lyrically, it’s nothing groundbreaking. Draiman continues his ongoing assault on backstabbing politicians, bad relationships, ecological destruction (“Another Way to Die”) and Holocaust deniers (“Never Again”).

Metal fans are always looking for a band’s progression. While Disturbed have progressed plenty over the past decade, Asylum is not much more than a companion piece to Indestructible – and that’s not a bad thing. Like its predecessor, it’s a solid record, top to bottom. If you liked Disturbed before, you’re not about to stop with this release. The Limited Edition release features live versions of “Down With the Sickness” and “Stricken,” “Decade of Disturbed” documentary, and nine instructional videos for learning Disturbed songs. (Reprise 2010)

Disturbed MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Metal, Rock

Yo Gabba Gabba: Music Is…Awesome! Volume 2

August 31, 2010 /


RIYL: hipster bands, watching your kids dance

Landing a cool 10 months after the release of Volume I of Yo Gabba Gabba’s Music Is…Awesome! series, this set rights some of the wrongs of that first album by including some of the bands they overlooked the last time (Jimmy Eat World, MGMT, Datarock, and thank God they finally released the Ting Tings’ cover of “Happy Birthday”). The catch with this set is that the songs by the contributing rock bands are much better, but the songs from the show are, well, not. Yes, “Hold Still” finally makes an appearance, but it’s the lesser of the two versions that have appeared on the show. Meanwhile, the “Freeze Game” song here does not measure up to the ‘you can’t catch us!’ ‘Freeze’ song from another episode. (Perhaps they chose the version they did so they didn’t have two songs that featured Brobee whining about not being able to keep up.) Alas, the Aggrolites’ song “Banana” is still nowhere to be found, nor is GOGO13’s song “Pick It Up” which, years after their debut on the show, are still the two most commonly sung “Yo Gabba Gabba” songs in this writer’s household. Their exclusion from these sets is bordering on comical, if it weren’t so tragic. Still, the Weezer song (“All My Friends Are Insects”) is great, as are the songs by Hot Hot Heat (“Time to Go Outdoors”) and the Apples in Stereo (“That’s My Family”). In the end the album, much like the show, has some moments of genius, surrounded by stuff that you merely tolerate for the sake of your kids. No excuses, guys: put “Pick It Up” and “Banana” on the next set, or there will be hell to pay. (Filter 2010)

OK Go MySpace page
Click to buy Music Is Awesome! Volume 2 from Amazon

Alternative, Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Emo, Hip Hop, Hipster, Pop, R&B, Rock, Ska

Goo Goo Dolls: Something for the Rest of Us

August 30, 2010 /


RIYL: Bryan Adams, The Plimsouls, Richard Marx

61luGSOu-WL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1] The Goo Goo Dolls have, at this point, been an adult contemporary recording act longer than they were Buffalo’s answer to the Replacements, so the time has probably come to stop using each new album as an excuse to whine about how much cooler they used to be, and lament what might have been if only Superstar Car Wash had been a hit. At this point, everybody knows exactly what they’re going to get from a Goos record, and if you’re looking to the fellows who brought you “Iris” for hungover blue-collar rock, well…that’s your problem, not theirs.

What we have with Something for the Rest of Us, then, is what sounds like – please, Lord, let it be – the final step in the Goos’ decade-long sanding down of their old sound. They’ve been inching this direction since they released Dizzy Up the Girl in 1998; 2002’s Gutterflower and 2006’s Let Love In were each slightly slicker, duller versions of what came before them, and Something out-slicks and out-snoozes them all. According to John Rzeznik, the more tuneful Goo with the Bon Jovi pout, the songs on this album are supposed to address the trying times we’re living in, but if there’s any topicality here, it’s so buried in snuggly layers of radio-ready gloss that it hardly matters.

When it comes to the Goo Goo Dolls, all that matters anymore is the ratio of sweeping Rzeznik power ballads (ten) to slightly punkier, slightly snottier Robby Takac rockers (two), and how soothing/vaguely dramatic it’ll sound in your car while you’re driving home from a long day of answering phones or filling out spreadsheets (very). There isn’t a line, chord, or cymbal crash that will change your life, or hit you anywhere but the soft, nougaty part of your cerebral cortex where you hide your secret affection for Lifehouse and Three Doors Down. It’s a very boring album, in other words, but who needs excitement? Excitement is messy, and it doesn’t have Rzeznik’s artfully tousled hair. (Warner Bros. 2010)

Goo Goo Dolls MySpace page

Adult Contemporary, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Various Artists: Going the Distance Soundtrack

August 26, 2010 /


RIYL: hip new indie rock, your kids

If Drew Barrymore and Justin Long make a movie together, you better believe that they are going to see to it that the soundtrack is stuffed with bands so hip it hurts, and that is exactly what Going the Distance is. Indeed, some people may view a band’s inclusion on this soundtrack as a sign that said band or artist is no longer cool, and it’s officially time to stop listening to them. If you’re friends with one of those people, do yourself a favor: stop being friends with them.

All kidding aside (Psssst! We weren’t kidding), the soundtrack plays out much like the one for “500 Days of Summer,” blending cutting-edge indie acts like the Boxer Rebellion (they’re here a whopping three times, but there’s a reason for that – they’re a key piece to the movie’s plot) with first-gen alt-rock bands like the Cure, the Pretenders and the Replacements. The end result is a more enjoyable experience than the movie itself, consistently engaging and high-brow. (Don’t get us started on the spray tanning scene.) It’s most likely to appeal to alt-rock suburbanites in their 30s and 40s, and that might sound like a death knell on paper, but here’s the thing: there are tons of people who fit that description, and while they may no longer be the hippest demographic in the world, they’re one of the most passionate groups of music fans left that actually still pay for music. And they love stuff that makes them feel cool again. Well played. (Water Tower Music 2010)

Click to buy Going the Distance from Amazon

Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Americana, Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Hipster, Pop, Rock

Ruth Gerson: This Can’t Be My Life

August 20, 2010 /


RIYL: Aimee Mann, Heather Nova, Fiona Apple

As if there needed to be proof out there that trying times can lead to the most inspired music, singer/songwriter Ruth Gerson hammers that point home again on her latest, This Can’t Be My Life. The album was recorded and ready for release in 2007, but a divorce and sudden single-momhood put the project on the shelf for a few years. Lucky for us, Gerson finally did release it, and the painful time period she endured shines through loud and clear on This Can’t Be My Life, her first full-length effort since 1998. Gerson writes music with heart, and delivers it with equal parts bluesy brood and rocking growl. It’s also melodic enough to be accessible to the masses, but still unique and cool enough to be considered alternative. Right from the title track, a piano anthem that sets the tone for the rest of the set, Gerson tells her story with simple yet powerful lyrics: “I made two lefts / I shoulda gone right / If I made one more left, it would have been right / It can’t be, can’t be my life.” This and the singsong “Bulletproof” have a falsetto melodic bent a la Aimee Mann, while “Fresh Air” and “Someday Soon” have a dark yet powerful pull akin to Fiona Apple. Add the jazzy, rainy day feel of “Hazel” and the guitar-picking “Take It Slow,” which will remind you of a female Nick Drake, and you’ve got a very complete, damn good album here. Whether Ruth Gerson breaks out big or remains on a smaller radar plane doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’s shared her stories with us, and is doing what she does best – making great music. (Wrong Records 2009)

Ruth Gerson website

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

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