Category: Alternative (Page 62 of 155)

White Rabbits: It’s Frightening

May 22, 2009 /

It is increasingly difficult to stand out in the overcrowded pop scene these days, but leave it to Missouri transplants White Rabbits (they’ve since relocated to Brooklyn, much like fellow Midesterners Locksley) to take a trick from .38 Special’s playbook and turn it on its ear: two drummers! The similarities end there, though; It’s Frightening, the second long-player from the White Rabbits, takes those two drummers – think Adam and the Ants, not the Doobie Brothers – and frames them with singer Stephen Patterson’s barroom piano and some sparse guitar work to create the kind of angular pop that you’d expect from the bands on the other side of the pond. Britt Daniel’s presence here as producer is no surprise, as the band’s “They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong” sounds like a lost Spoon track, and Single of the Year candidate “Percussion Gun,” armed to the teeth with handclaps and double-decker harmonies, is delightfully quirky and insanely catchy. That unusual approach to their drum tracks could prove to be an albatross – ask Guster about that one – but for the moment, all is quite well with the White Rabbits. (TBD 2009)

White Rabbits MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

twodoggarage: A Gross Display of Penmanship

May 22, 2009 /

Here’s the setup: the folks at RPM Challenge dared bands and solo artists to write, record and deliver a finished album in one month. Any number of things could happen under that kind of deadline: pigs could fly, songwriters could lose lots of sleep, and the biggest risk of all – the music could suck. One of the people who took the RPM bait was SoCal based twodoggarage, led by singer and songwriter Alex Kimmell. The band’s debut, Pinboy, was chock full of catchy pop tunes that brought Kimmell out of left field and onto our radar. This one, A Gross Display of Penmanship, with its diverse and interestingly arranged songs, is arguably even better. And further, the more you listen, the more it should grow on even the most skeptical of critics. Kimmell shows versatility galore with catchy ditties like “Something Real” and “Enough,” flowing mid-tempo Glen Phillips-esque tracks such as “Gradually Disappearing” and “Lift Me Up, Carry Me Down.” He even gets truly experimental on super-cool electronic instrumental “Circles” as well as on the rap-infused “The Runner” and spoken-word-meets-fuzz-box title track. Sure, the recording quality is at times bedroom-ish, but Kimmell makes the best of it, as well as the most of his time putting an album together on the fly. (self-released 2009)

twodoggarage MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

You know what’s better than Coldplay?

May 15, 2009 /

Free Coldplay.

Beginning today, coinciding with the band’s North American tour, Coldplay fans can download LeftRightLeftRightLeft, a nine-song live album, for free on the band’s web site. As you might imagine, the track listing favors their latest album Viva la Vida, however – and the fans will love this – it focuses on album tracks over singles. “Strawberry Swing” and “42” are here, while “Talk” and “Yellow” are not. Bravo, gentlemen.

Fans have until the end of their US tour to download LeftRightLeftRightLeft, while the band will be giving away CD copies of the album at their concerts. Dig in, kids.

To download LeftRightLeftRightLeft, click here.

Alternative, Artists, Concerts, Downloads, External Music, Pop, Rock, Songs

The Hours: See the Light

May 8, 2009 /

They would surely bristle at the idea that their songs are of the throwback variety, but the simple fact is that there aren’t many, if any, bands writing the kind of music that propels See the Light, the magnificent new album by UK duo (or is it septet?) the Hours. Singer Antony Genn’s phrasing recalls Wonder Stuff frontman Miles Hunt (though Genn is a much better singer), and the songs are flat-out skyscrapers, gorgeous piano-driven epics that put the ‘wide’ in widescreen. “Come On” uses seven words to create one of the catchiest choruses you’ll hear this year, while the seven-minute title track is a brilliant, two-chord slow burner, like a mid-tempo version of Pulp’s “Common People” (which is fitting, since Genn is a Pulp alumnus). There is a lyrical gaffe here and there – “The Girl Who Had the World at Her Feet” opens with the line “The cash cow is heading for the slaughterhouse,” ugh – but such bits come with the territory, and their damage is minimal. Don’t be surprised if these guys become a very big deal in a very short amount of time. (IsGoodLtd 2009)

The Hours MySpace page
Click to buy See the Light

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Melodramatic, Pop, Rock, Widescreen

Seen Your Video: White Rabbits, “Percussion Gun”

May 6, 2009 /

Ladies and gentlemen, the line for Single of the Year starts here.

I’m frankly shocked that these guys are from New York. American bands, particularly young ones, don’t write songs like this anymore, and they certainly don’t use arrangements like this. I had these guys pegged for a UK act all the way, with the Adam & the Ants-style percussion, hand claps and old-fashioned piano. Maybe the arrangement was producer Britt Daniel’s idea, who knows. His band Spoon isn’t exactly playing the American game, either. No matter who’s responsible for putting it together, it’s damn good, and had me racing for the band’s MySpace page. How about that, the other tunes are good, too. Time to hit up the publicist for a review copy. (The band’s album, It’s Frightening, comes out May 19.)

So the tune is definitely a keeper. Now about about the video? Tastefully simple, a rarity these days. The camera spins around – and sometimes above – a circular display of white lights that surrounds the band. That’s it. I bet they shot it in an afternoon, then hit the pub, while the director popped a couple Dramamines and went to bed. Nicely done, lads.

Alternative, Artists, Rock, Seen Your Video, Videos

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