The Most Serene Republic – Underwater Cinematographer – Arts & Crafts (www.arts-crafts.ca/themostserenerepublic)
The young Toronto group, and possibly the first A&C band that doesn’t feature a Broken Social Scene member, create a wonderful soundscape of gleeful indie pop, scattered with electronic flourishes and a varying degree of instrumentation. Bookended by instrumentals, Prologue and Epilogue, the album sputters like children at play.
You cautiously look ahead to make sure they don’t poke their out, skin their knee or go down the slide to fast. Each song sort of has that moment where everything can either crash and burn, or carefully go on to the end unscathed. Most of the songs go unscathed, push and release, in and out. They create a great debut album for Arts & Crafts, who have once again made me wonder what is in the water north of the border, and how do we get more of it here. Death Cab For Cutie – Plans – Atlantic (http://www.deathcabforcutie.com)
From lead track, “Marching Bands Of Manhattan”, all the way through album closer, “Stable Song”, Ben Gibbard and company woo you. Lead single, Soul Meets Body, is one of the more overtly rocking songs on the album and separated from the album, is a wonderful song in itself.
But as I think many fans of this band know, especially those fans of their earlier work, it’s the quiet, introspective songs, that sing you to sleep and leave a lasting impression. Many of the songs are sparse, with minimal arrangements and Gibbard’s hushed vocals. Gibbard has a way to suck you in with wonderful narratives about relationships, longing, and desire, on top of catchy sing-alongs. He’s always had a knack for really capturing the moment well. Sure there are the pop tunes, the lullaby love songs and slow building gems. I can’t say they’ve sold out, nor have they done anything to draw in more O.C. Fans. Aside from the overproduction, I think this is their finest work in some time and I’m happy to say they’ve not disappointed an old fan. Giant Drag – Hearts and Unicorns – Kickball/Interscope (www.giantdrag.com)
I’m gonna be the jerk and say, that I have a tough time liking rock bands fronted by women. I’m now going to say, that despite that, I really like this Southern California duo.
I heard their Lemona ep a while back and loved it. Of course they are going to get compared to a bunch of bands from the mid 90’s with swirling, distorted guitars, syrupy vocals and mischievous lyrics. But is that so bad? They keep it so fresh and so clean. Singer, Annie Hardy makes me wonder what she’s going to say next, what kind of riff is going to mesmerize me, did she just sing that, yes she did. They update a few of the songs from Lemona on here, but for the most part you get a new batch of wonderful and inspiring songs.Cave In - Perfect Pitch Black – HydraHead (http://www.cavein.net)
Before this band got all proggy and turned into a poor man's Failure, they were heavy as hell. On what I consider to be their best and heaviest release, Until Your Heart Stops, they crossed genre's and boldly pushed the threshold of your average metalcore band. They created the perfect hybrid, of a then changing, metalcore scene, with beautiful arrangements, zepplinesque riffs, instrumental segues, and spacy jams all to go along with singer Steve Brodsky's both melodic vocals and emotional screams . After turning out a few mediocre prog rock albums, sans the screams, they felt the need to go back to their roots and bring back the heaviness and screamy vocals.
I remember reading in an interview that said he no longer wanted to scream, as he felt it made him sound like a monster. Well, what's missing on Perfect Pitch Black is any sort of cohesiveness and those emotional yelps, with cookie monster vocals, chug along riffs and formulaic tunes. Bassist Caleb Scofield's guttural screams seem out of place and dare I say very typical to today's metalcore mush, the lyrics are junior high angst and no song really seems to be challenging or groundbreaking. It's sad to say, but Cave In made a really disappointing album, much more so than their major label debut, and demise, Antenna. What was once a young talented band, now just seems to be going through the motions.Friday, Aug 26, 2005 - 01:21pm
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