The Bouncing Souls: The Gold Record

Let's start out with some honesty:
I don't know anything about the Bouncing Souls. I've never listened to them before. I've never wanted to.

As a favour, I yoinked the album for a friend and sent it off to him. On a whim (and some insistence from him), I gave it a listen. Turns out, I maybe should listen to them a bit more.

The album keeps a solid speed, going for that 90s punk sound, but a little cleaned up. Which, yes, I realize that "punk" and "clean" should *NOT* be in the same sentence, but it's the best description I've got. It's 12 tracks that roll in just shy of 45 minutes, which I'm told is nearly TWICE as long (time wise) as a normal Souls album. Despite borrowing from the rock and punk sounds, the album has a very mature feel to it.

Letter From Iraq gives you a good idea of the groups views while being a solid tune; Lean on Sheena does a great job of covering an Avoid One Thing tune; For All the Unheard just has such great musical construction and good lyrics (not to mention sounding a bit Tom Petty-ish); and the lead off song The Gold Song is just good old guitar rockin' goodness.

In the End: This is a great surprise. I've been through the album 6 or 7 times now and adore it. It's got a great blend of simple, guitar heavy rock and thoughtful and/or fun lyrics. If this is your first jump into the Souls music, I think you'll be happy. If you already know them, you'll be in love with this album.

Technorati Tagged: The Bouncing Souls | Punk Rock

Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

There's something enjoyable and rocking about this, the first release, from the Artic Monkeys. It moves, it kicks some butt, forgets to take names, and at points, is reminiscent of some earlier British punk.

All that being said, this is not the second coming of the Beatles's "Revolver" as many reviewers have claimed. Everyone needs to do artist comparisons to get the point across. Well, I'm going to try not to do that.

Like so much I listen to (and at points drawing from punk-ish sounds), this is a very guitar-driven album. There's no synthetic sounds here (well, none I can detect), which is always nice to hear in the over-processed, uber-electronic world. The use of "stereo" makes me smile as it brings me back to older albums. The chaps bring out a solid selection of 13 tunes that Rock, Roll, Pump, and Kick Ass musically.

Highlights on the disc include I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor, Dancing Shoes, and Perhaps Vampires is a Bit Strong....

In the end: Don't believe the hype, but, at the same time, this disc is good. There's not much new or inventive you can do, so how well you do it is the key. And the Arctic Monkeys do this album excellently.

On the Web: Download a *great* demo, Cigarette Smoke off of BadmintonStamps.

Technorati Tagged: Arctic Monkeys | Rock

Editors: The Back Room

We here in the States are, too often, behind the times when it comes to music. KT Tunstall's album "Eye to the Telescope" was out a year before it released here, and now we have the Editors with "The Back Room," available in the UK since last July, it dropped in March here.

This four-pack of British musicians offers up, on "The Back Room," 11 tunes that almost make me think where Coldplay could have evolved to if they hadn't been so busy doing the exact same sound for 6 years. Actually, the more I listen to it, everything about the Editors is a more mature sounding Coldplay.

The album is heavily guitar-driven, layered on top of simple but effective drumb beats, coupled with some mild synthetic sounds, nothing too obnoxious. Lyrically, it is not complexly built; this is not the lyrical equivalent of Blonde on fucking Blonde. That being said, these chaps do manage to put out a powerful lyric or three throughout the album, including such gems as "Look at us through the lens of a camera, does it remove all of our pain?" from Camera and "Oh, if fortune favours the brave I am as poor as they come," from Lights.

Including those two tracks, I highly enjoy All Sparks, Open Your Arms, and Munich.

In the end: Anyone who's remotely thought Coldplay was good can easily grab on to this album, but don't let the comparison turn you off. These guys are unbelievably good, and definitely worth a checking out.

On the Web: See photos from their show at the Paradise Rock Club (July 30, 2006).

Technorati Tagged: Editors | Brit Rock | Coldplay

Stereolab: Fab Four Suture

There's a scene in High Fidelity where John Cusack is talking to some cut music reporter in Championship vinyl and in the background you can here Stereolab's Lo Boob Oscillator playing. This was my introduction to this wildly experimental brit band.

After this sampling, I went and splurged on 3 or 4 of the bands albums, all of which were fun and enjoyable. This latest album maintains that sound, but, really, does nothing new or interesting, which is depressing when you have a band who does so much experimentation.

It's even hard to pull out tracks that are memorable or enjoyable. The whole album flows like a ... well, like space aged bachelor pad lounge music ... that just keeps going. It's almost like a dj's dance set, where each tune is skillfully faded/mixed into the next.

In the end: Anyone who likes Stereolab will adore this album hands down; anyone curious about where they were going to take their sound... well, let's just say nothing's changed. If you're looking for good background music, this album will do the job for you.

Technorati Tagged: Stereolab | Electronica | Background Music