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)
Released on October 6, 2009, Anywhere But Here is the third release from Florida-based group, Mayday Parade. Made up of Derek Sanders (lead vocals, keyboard), Jeremy Lenzo (bass guitar, backing vocals), Alex Garcia (lead guitar), Brooks Betts (rhythm guitar) and Jason Bundrick (drums, percussion), Mayday Parade formed in 2006 after the bands Kid Named Chicago and Defining Moment converged.
In “The Silence,” Sanders adds a nice effect with his vocals on the lyric “even though the world she loved, it won’t ever be the way it was” at the beginning of the chorus. It mirrors the instrumental back-and-forth of the notes in the background.
When I was sent Old Time Speaker by Bronze Radio Return, I’ll be honest, I had never heard of the band before. I had no idea what to expect from Chris Henderson (lead vocals, guitar), Patrick Fetkowitz (lead guitar), Matt Warner (keys, background vocals), Rob Griffith (drums, background vocals), Bob Tanen (bass, background vocals) and Craig Struble (harmonica) when I opened my iTunes and turned up my speakers one fateful afternoon.
Most people have probably heard of a small, quaint little tour known as Warped Tour that comes to a city near you on a yearly basis. Well if you were lucky enough to attend said tour this year, than you may have heard a band known as You Me at Six play.
Taking from pop and fast-paced rock and punk, You Me at Six have perfected a sound that, at first listen, may remind you of other bands on the scene right now. Once you get to about song number three on their nineteen track album (a fact which as a consumer, I greatly appreciate; twenty tracks= a lot of bang for your buck!), you realize that these guys are quite different. “And why are they different, Jackie?” you ask. Well I will tell you why in one mere word: emotion. The tracks on this album are not piles of summer anthems or shallow, surface level songs about breakups, lost love, and disdain. These tracks take it up a notch and to an entirely different level. Franceschi’s voice alone conveys such a range of emotions on this album that I was blown away. And the music matches the emotions of his voice to a “t.: I had to pump the CD on the surround sound stereo speakers in my house just so I could get the full effect of every line and every lyric.
When you hear the name Our Lady Peace, a little bell probably goes off in your brain, right? Let me take you back to 2002 and a song called “Somewhere Out There.” Sound familiar? Of course it does.
Hailing from California’s Bay Area, Like the Ocean has just completed their first full-length album entitled, The Endless and Unseen. Band members Eric Padilla (guitar/vocals), Jared Duke (bass), John Miller (guitar/vocals), and Kenny Padilla (drums) derived their aquatically-themed name from a lyric in their song “This is the Moment:” “sway and swell like the ocean.”
There is one word that comes to mind when I think of Like the Ocean’s music: contagious. Their melodies, their instrumentals are all extremely and consistently contagious. 
