A Miscellaneous Music Roundup:
Every week, we try to review some of the most important album releases. However, we only have limited space, so we can't run nearly all of the reviews we'd like. These are the scraps. Some scraps are more delectable than others, but these are the albums that have accumulated in our music bin. Below is our take on them.
Valencia
We All Need a Reason to Believe
The Philadelphia rock/pop-punk five-piece that recently headlined Rock the Vote at the HUB-Robeson Center, released its sophomore album (a Columbia Records release) in August. It's a radio-happy and harmless crowd-pleaser. The record label upgrade could've resulted in an overproduced saturation of sound, but it led instead to well-integrated moderation. The songs flow well into one another, but on one too many tracks, the band conducts a clichéd mini-encore. Toward the end of most songs, the band downsizes to a single instrument and fewer vocals just to "return" with a noise cavalcade to close. The emo-hued vocals and hook inclinations are reminiscent of the band's genre cohorts, but fans should hold out hope for the band to rise above.
- M.M.
Sounds Like: Taking Back Sunday, Simple Plan, Hit the
Lights
Download: "Listen Up"
Grade: C
Peter Bjorn and John
Seaside Rock
Seaside Rock, the Swedish trio's fourth album (a vinyl- and digital-only release), is an indie oddity. Aside from a few brief spoken monologues about growing up in northern seaside villages, the record is entirely instrumental. Peter Bjorn and John takes us on a guided tour of scenic locales -- from a grade school classroom in Sweden ("School of Kraut") to undulations of the ocean waves ("Barcelona") -- that we can only hear. Ostensibly dull on paper, it's a truly simple but infectious exploration of unconventional sound.
The band blew up after the equally somber and uplifting 2006 pseudo-hit "Young Folks," grazed the mainstream with its whistled hook and bongo banging.
Seaside Rock opens with "Inland Empire," which borrows an eerie, expressionistic David Lynch quality. With the appearance of steel drums, "Say Something (Mukiya)" feels like you're on Yoshi's island inside the video game universe.
The boys are adept at crafting a fresh-sounding pop song, so it's a bummer when the vocal harmonies never kick in. Tracks like "At the Seaside" beg for vocals and one of their customary elegant riffs. Instrumental albums are usually either hit or miss, and this one hits. But the school of Kraut is just a hollow structure if there's no one to inhabit it. - M.M.
Sounds Like: New Order, The Hollies, Joy Division
Download: "Barcelona," "Inland Empire"
Grade: B+
B.B. King
One Kind
Considering it's B.B. King, the music is significantly more polished than most blues records. King takes center stage, and his band -- including Dr. John on the piano -- cushions his mature, sincere set. At 83, the blues great and No. 3 all-time guitarist according to Rolling Stone, churned out his 24th studio record. There is a poignancy and sadness in his natural rhythms and words in the way Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" made you want to mourn for him even when he was still alive. - M.M.
Sounds Like: Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker
Download: "See That My Grave is Kept Clean"
Grade: B+
Readymade Breakup
Alive on the Vine
Hailing from Asbury Park, N.J., Readymade Breakup has some big shoes to fill (Bruce Springsteen named his debut album after the town.) These Jersey boys make no attempt to imitate the Boss, which is fine. Alive on the Vine instead yields sprightly, organic-sounding indie pop. The guitars are deliciously clean and free of the artificial sheen that seems to dominate mainstream releases these days. "Stretch Your Head" has a guitar riff that sounds like the Beatles' "Oh! Darling," which is never a bad thing, and summery vibes abound. - A.S.
Sounds Like: The 88, Ben Folds
Download: "Honey, You Might Be Right," "Ugly,"
"See You Sad"
Grade: B
Noah and the Whale
Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
These indie folk-rock Brits drew immediate interest from the movie buff quadrant for making their band name an amalgam of the 2005 film, The Squid and the Whale, and Noah Baumbach (its director and a Wes Anderson collaborator). Plus, their band emblem resembles the yellow lettering of The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Their use of the ukulele and harmonica and pairing of male-female vocals make for a smooth listen even if it's not the freshest sound. The band's songs don't have much in common with the quirkiness or novelty as their source, but with self-concious asides like, "Maybe I just need a new cologne," they're sailing further from the surface.
- M.M.
Sounds like: Belle & Sebastian, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Moldy Peaces
Download: "5 Years Time," "Give a Little Love"
Grade: B-
Unknown Component
In Direct Communication
This album by Iowa City one-man band Keith Lynch sounds very much like a starter set, a beginner's demo. Lynch's nasal voice lacks the range that can stand out or sync up against his dull drums and off-key guitar. The album is banal and cringe-inducing with little variation in tone or structure. Listening to torpid, depressing music that has been poorly produced will induce such self-loathing thoughts upon the listener or leave them comatose. As for the life of the LP, do not resuscitate.
- M.M.
Sounds Like: a worse Elliott Smith
Download: "Into the Sun"
Grade: D
Matt Duke
Kingdom Underground
This singer-songwriter from New Jersey crafts mellow, piano- and acoustic guitar-driven rock songs on Kingdom Underground. Some are ballads ("30 Some Days"), some are more upbeat ("Happy Hooligsan"). "I've Got Atrophy on the Brain" is funkier, with Duke sounding a little like Maroon 5. It's all very pleasant, Duke harmonizing with himself on the choruses over peppy, ever-so-slightly overdriven electric guitars, but the tone isn't varied enough to distinguish some of the songs from each other. - A.S.
Sounds Like: Jason Mraz, Matt
Nathanson
Download: "The Father, the Son and the Harlot's Ghost," "I've Got Atrophy on the Brain," "Rabbit"
Grade: B-
Cold War Kids
Loyalty to Loyalty
Cold War Kids fused indie sensibilities with American musical traditions on 2006's Robbers & Cowards, and the new album looks to continue that trend. Loyalty to Loyalty is packed with stabs at rootsy, folksy rock. Lead singer Nathan Willett shouts the white boy's blues like The White Stripes' Jack White and The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. And, when he gets to talking on "Something Is Not Right With Me," he sounds a little like Lou Reed. Still, White and Auerbach (and Reed) have something that's missing from Loyalty to Loyalty. Willett puts his all into the vocals, but songs like "Welcome to the Occupation" lack fire, soul and direction. "Every Valley Is Not a Lake," on the other hand, is a good example of what it's like when Willett actually finds his inner flame, while "I've Seen Enough" mixes ghostly reverb with stomping blues. The record's got its high points, but its faults weaken the overall effect. - A.S.
Sounds Like: The Libertines,
Download: "Every Valley Is Not a Lake," "Golden
Gate Jumper," "I've Seen Enough"
Grade: C+
Say When
Ready For It All
Bostonian band Say When self-releases EPs while touring to make sure new music is consistently available to fans. The most recent of these, Ready For It All, features five songs and some pretty cool album art. The guitars are loud, the singing appropriately pop-punk, and the music generic. Though inoffensive, most tracks are formulaic and safe. "Our Town," complete with a catchy shout-along chorus, rises above the rest, but nothing's memorable enough to make this stand out. - A.S.
Sounds Like: Thursday, Taking Back Sunday,
Download: "Our Town"
Grade: C
The Morning Light
The Morning Light
The Morning Light's self-titled debut album is true to its title. It's a collection of sunny piano-driven rockers that sound a little like a spring morning. The Pittsburgh group throws in numerous winks and nods to the Beatles, and lead singer Harrison Wargo's vocal range resembles that of Queen's Freddie Mercury. The album's instrumentation creates an enveloping wall of sound, with horns on "Done Writing Love Songs," accordion on "Happy-Now," Hammond B-3 on "Honest (Apologies Endless)" and bombastically multi-tracked vocal harmonies everywhere. It's fun, appealing and surprisingly polished sounding for such a young band. - A.S.
Sounds Like: Straylight Run, Relient K
Download: "Done Writing Love Songs," "Honest (Apologies
Endless)"
Grade: B
