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January, 2010

  1. Vampire Weekend’s album Contra

    January 25, 2010 by Anna

    Vampire Weekend - Contra

    Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut album was an unexpected success, selling almost 500,000 copies and catapulting the band to popularity in both mainstream and indie circles.  Fans embraced the New York band’s educated play on words and raw instrumentation, commending its innovative sound. However, with every successful debut album comes high expectations for the next and a threatening “sophomore slump.” While many bands have fallen back into oblivion after disappointing follow-up releases, Vampire Weekend’s Contra only solidifies the band’s undeniable appeal. Contra recently debuted at No.1 on Billboard’s top 200 after its release on January 12, 2010 on XL Records, a well-deserved achievement for a well-crafted album.

    Contra is intriguingly absurd.  It thrives on juxtaposition, fusing African rhythms and electronic effects, auto-tune and orchestration, and ballad and high energy in a way that is simply genius. The first track, “Horchata” introduces the African/Caribbean rhythmic theme of the entire album. This percussion also plays a large role in  “Run,” and “Diplomat’s Son.”

    There is no doubt about this album’s absurdity after being taken on the adventurously odd ride that is “California English.” The band takes huge risks in this song, combining auto-tuned vocals and orchestration with an African/electronic background that makes the entire song so bizarre you can’t help but listen again.  Another repeat-worthy track is “Giving Up the Gun” which pleasantly integrates female vocals and displays improvement in the overall production quality of Contra in comparison to their debut release.

    Vampire Weekend

    This album has several highlights, but there are a few songs that require more than a couple listens to really enjoy such as “Holiday,” “I Think Ur a Contra,” and the album’s first single, “Cousins.”  While the music video for “Cousins” perfectly personifies its funky and frantically energetic style, it took quite a while for me to notice and appreciate the song’s excellent bass line and unusual percussion.

    Despite this, Contra is impeccable.  It is strange and confusing in all the right ways, beneficially worldly and daring, and excitingly unpredictable.  Contra successfully displays Vampire Weekend’s growth in both its musical and technical abilities, showing that, for this band, there is no such thing as a “sophomore slump.”

    Rating: (4.5/5)

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  2. The Summer Set’s album Love Like This

    January 16, 2010 by Anna

    Arizona, pop-rock band The Summer Set released their debut album, Love Like This, on October 13, 2009 on the label Razor and Tie after self-releasing two EP’s while in high school. Brian Dales (vocals), Jess Bowen (drums), Josh Montgomery (guitar) and brothers John (guitar) and Stephen (bass) Gomez successfully express their fun and light-hearted approach to music with an album loaded with energetic pop beats that will undoubtedly make you nostalgic for your carefree, drunken high school days.

    Although I was admittedly a skeptic about having to listen to yet another 5-piece, teenage, power-pop band with whiny vocals, “The Boys You Do (Get Back at You)” was a pleasant surprise.  Setting a lively tone for the entire album, this first track is an irresistible fusion of opposites – Dales threatens to “go to sleep with all your friends” and vengefully warns about “the monsters in your bed,” amusingly contrasted by the peppy musical accompaniment. However, listener beware: the chorus can and will get stuck in your head. Listen at your own risk.

    While the band is successful at maintaining the energy from the first track throughout the album, some songs are predictable and have a Jonas Brothers quality about them. Chief among these are “Passenger Seat” and “Chelsea” (which was written about actress Chelsea Staub from the show, Jonas – how’s that for irony?).  This could pose as a bonus or total turn-off depending on your personal preferences, but the songs are worth a listen or two regardless.

    One of this album’s highlights is “Young,” which pays homage to young hopeless romantics everywhere.  The band provides an infectious musical backbone to lyrics like, “If I’m Romeo and you’re Juliet, as long as I’m breathing I’ll love you to death” which successfully captures the exaggerated nature of teenage love.

    myspace.com/thesummerset

    The last track, “Where Are You Now?” is a brilliant end to an album full of high-energy, power-pop sounds.  A duet with Meg&Dia singer, Dia Frampton, this ballad is a beautiful and impressive expression of raw talent.  The maturity and soothing quality of Frampton’s vocals evokes the same in that of Dales’, making the dialogue between the singers convincing and believable. Subtle harmonies throughout and a dreamlike interlude at 3:10 display the simple nature of the song as a whole, showing that the band is capable of more than just guitar-heavy pop-rock.

    While not the most innovative album to hit the shelves, Love Like This is a genuine display of The Summer Set’s optimistic approach to music.  With tracks about falling in love , embracing your youth and life in general, this album is road-trip ready and a promising start for the Arizona band.

    Rating: (3.0/5)

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  3. We the King’s New Release Smile Kid

    January 8, 2010 by Jackie

    When you put together Travis Clark (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Hunter Thomsen (lead guitar and backing vocals), Drew Thomsen (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Dan Duncan (drums, percussion), you have a band called We the Kings from Bradenton, Florida.

    The name Smile Kid is a line that comes not from a title song but rather from the fourth track on the album, “The Story of Your Life.” I’m not sure a story of my life would coalesce into a song that sounds like We The King’s version, but nonetheless, it can’t be denied that it is a catchy tune.

    Next on the list is “In-N-Out (Animal Style),” a song that probably has some sort of sexual double entendre but after I read the title, I was too busy driving to my friendly neighborhood In-N-Out for a cheeseburger to notice the song’s potential deep-seated meaning.

    The next song in the repertoire is “We’ll Be a Dream,” featuring Demi Lovato (aka one of Disney’s over-promoted tween stars). I think that’s all that really needs to be said about that one.

    As I continued to listen to the album, I found myself thinking “hmm, quite a few of these songs sound oddly like something that once played in the background on an episode of  ‘The Hills.’ This thought turned out to be quite ironic because their song “Check Yes Juliet” (not on Smile Kid) was in fact, in an episode of said show. That’s not to say good music can never come from an MTV reality show, but in my esteemed opinion as a music writer, it rarely gives an album or song any brownie points.

    I suppose now is as good a time as any to mention my distaste for albums that put acoustic versions of earlier songs on the album at the end. Maybe I’m cheap, maybe I’m picky, but having the same song twice on any album, in any capacity just feels like a rip off to me. I want to get my $10 worth and have every song be new and original (even though “big” bands like Coldplay have even pulled this shtick before).

    Smile Kid is what I like to call a good “summer album” with an “infectious pop sound” (and not just because there’s a song on the album with the word “summer” in it). What is a “summer album?” Well, based on my own personal definition, such an album is one that is a) terribly catchy b) can be played ultra-loud from any form of vehicle with the windows rolled down, c) though it qualifies for point “a” and “b,” you never really listen to the lyrics or what the songs themselves are about d) after coming to terms with “c,” you bob your head and tap your fingers accordingly.

    I would not say the album was my least favorite of all time. It’s catchy and found myself tapping my foot along to the beat on more than one track, I was just faced with mounting skepticism as I continued my listening party. If any song you ever produced at any time appears in an MTV reality show about spoiled Los Angeles-based celebrity-wannabes, combined with having a well-paid Disney actress appear on one of your songs, that unfortunately does not scream “serious band!” for me. Instead, it screams “we want to be famous!” a little too much for my taste which sadly ruined my enjoyment of the majority of this album and of the band in general.

    Rating: (1.5/5)

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