Music Review

By Simon Howell - A Listening Ear - 12/04/2007

Some bands seem to have everything stacked against them. Aloha suffer from a boring name, generic song and album titling, less than magnificent lyrics, and an uninspiring vocalist. They are not particularly adventurous or distinctive in their pristine indie-rock sound, for the most part. Against the odds, however, they managed to quietly accomplish some impressive work; their last release, Some Echoes, featured a number of memorable songs with unconventional arrangements, relying heavily on xylophones, percussion and keyboards while minimizing the use of guitars. Light Works sees them substituting most of the keyboards for actual piano, and penning a set of songs so nondescript as to vacate your mind as soon as they leave your ears -- an example of living down to expectation?

Opener "Body Buzz" is probably the most memorable track, thanks to an agreeable chord progression, but there's a nagging sense that the track could have just as easily been recorded by any one of the deluge of Coldplay acolytes we've been subjected to over the past few years (The Fray, Keane, Snow Patrol, etc.). From there, things don't improve, as the number of lyrical inanities and redundancies increases. On "Broken Light," Tony Cavallario insists that "time is on my side" and that "today is like any other day," which makes you wonder why he bothered to write about it in the first place. The track slogs along for over five minutes without inspiration or revelation. "Trick Spring" shows promise, with its sprightly acoustic guitars tucked in either speaker and a return to the synth-driven sound of their previous output, but the song fails to capitalize on its potential energy, preferring to squat in place and squander a melodically interesting chorus with some inane chatter about weather machines. "The End" finally injects a bit of energy, adds some subtle horns, and manages to keep things under three minutes -- there's a bit of that potential at work, finally. "I know you can make an effort," they intone.

The effort stops, or at least it disappears from view. "Passengers" puts us firmly back in Keane-land, with its annoying chorus -- "too much of anything is wrong" -- which manages to be both prescriptive and distinctly unhelpful. At least "Gold World" brings in some of the unique percussion they're known for, but it's again paired with a blandly conceived ballad. Even the apparently improvised closer "Equinox" comes across as completely lacking in spontaneity, perhaps the greatest indicator of the group's aggressive sense of immobility. The drums try valiantly to play with emphasis, the synth lines meander a bit, the song meanders on over six minutes, but none of these elements manage to take the track anywhere. The most hopeful thing one can proffer up about this release: it's essentially a stopgap release as opposed to a "proper" new LP; let's hope it's not a harbinger of things to come for the talented but seemingly stifled group.


Tune in to A Listening Ear with Simon every Tuesday from 1pm - 2pm

By Simon Howell - A Listening Ear - 10/13/2007

Whatever else they may have been, The Hives were once ruthlessly efficient -- 2004's Tyrannosaurus Hives blasted through its twelve songs in half an hour flat. Of course, most bands that release 30-minute rock records belong on labels like Epitaph and Lookout!, but The Hives have always managed to keep some rapid-fire grit in their songwriting even as they enjoy major label backing. Alas, in the world of the majors, what doesn't need fixing must be broken, and The Black and White Album marks the group's first diversified recording, with forays into drum machines, keyboards, acoustic guitars, piano and even strings. It must be asked, given a comparative listen to their past works, if it was really necessary for them to stray so far from their apparently limited strengths (one can't help but wonder just how much of this was at the label's insistence).

The album starts off reasonably strong with the catchy-but-stilted single, "Tick Tick Boom," the considerably better "Try It Again" (with backing vocals resembling a cheerleader squad of riot girls) and the new-wavey "You Got It All…Wrong." Before long, however, the group loses focus along with its growing list of collaborators, including no less than twenty contributing engineers. Among the biggest missteps are the two tracks produced by pop-rap alum (and occasional genius, as evidenced by the Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury) Pharrell Williams; "Well all Right!" is passable, replacing driving guitars with barroom-style backing vocals and a swing rhythm, but "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." is a lame attempt at an "Under Pressure"-style anthem. Even worse is "Giddy Up," for which the band themselves is solely responsible, and can best be described as an annoying Gossip c-side. At times the group seems unhealthily flexible to the whims of their producers (of which there are four, not counting three self-produced tracks) -- dance-rock cut, "Hey Little World," for instance, is a dead ringer for some of the more upbeat moments on Bloc Party's A Weekend in the City, and sure enough, it's Jacknife Lee on the boards. Even though the album's most convincing departure is the sinister cabaret-pop tune, "Puppet on a String," one can't help but feel a twinge of irony upon hearing the derision they level at the easily-manipulated figure in question. 

Tune in to A Listening Ear with Simon every Tuesday from 1pm - 2pm

By Simon Howell - The Listening Ear - 01/22/2008

After losing singer-songwriter Jason Isbell as a contributing member, many would reasonably have expected Alabama's venerable Drive-By Truckers to take a break, especially given the somewhat muted reception to 2006's A Blessing And A Curse. Instead, the band hunkered down to craft their strongest set of songs since their 2003 high-water mark, Decoration Day. The keys to their success here are a renewed focus on their strengths as storytellers, as well as bassist (and Isbell's ex-wife) Shonna Tucker's emergence as a strong songwriter in her own right.

One would scarcely have expected that the Truckers could pull off a nineteen-track, seventy-five-minute album after their last album began to strain before its scant eleven tracks were up. Nevertheless, Brighter manages to impress throughout much of its running length -- even if it probably should end with track fifteen, "Check-Out Time In Vegas." The four songs that follow sound like bonus tracks in comparison. Before the album hits that dry spell, however, many of their best cuts to date crop up -- Tucker's gorgeous weepers "I'm Sorry Huston" and "The Purgatory Line," as well as Patterson Hood's "The Righteous Path" and the quietly expansive "Opening Act." Mike Cooley's contributions lean strongly on the folk-country axis of their sound, especially on "Bob," "Perfect Timing," "Check-Out Time in Vegas," and "Lisa's Birthday" (although he still remembers to bring a kick-ass rocker in the form of "3 Dimes Down").

Besides the sharply written tunes, their lyrics remain as socially incisive as ever. On "Bob," Cooley laments the type of independent, idiosyncratic Southern men he fears are dying out with cultural hegemony: "He likes to drink a beer or two every now and again / he always had more dogs than he ever had friends / Bob ain't light in the loafers / he might kneel but he never bends over." Hood's "The Man I Shot" examines guilt and mortality in the age of Iraq ("that man I shot, he was trying to kill me / sometimes I wonder if I should be there / I hold my little ones until he disappears") while "The Home Front" makes Hood's views on the matter even clearer through its lament of a soldier's doting wife ("there ain't no end to it / no 9/11 or uranium to pin the bullshit on"). Southern America may continue to see its constituents internationally ridiculed, but the Truckers' efforts to portray their everyday struggles continue unabated.


Tune in to A Listening Ear with Simon every Tuesday from 1pm - 2pm

By Korgüll the Destroyer - Metal for Supper - The Afternoon Edition - 02/21/2006

Months before In the Arms of Devastation was even written, Kataklysm was going around saying that this album was going to be their masterpiece, their Reign in Blood. Since amount of hype usually has a positive correlation to amount of disappointment, I was a bit concerned. Luckily, I was worrying for nothing. Kataklysm have put together another excellent piece of musical brutality. These local metalheads have further honed their craft. The songs are better written, better produced and overall, more engaging. "Let Them Burn" is one of Kataklysm's best songs to date; "Open Scars" and "Like Angels Weeping" are a few other high points, and the album as a whole is solid. Maurizio Iacono continues to be display one of the best vocal ranges in death metal, ranging from death metal growls to black metal shrieks. Like on Serenity in Fire, I didn’t even realize there was a guest vocalist on the record at first. This time around, it is Kittie vocalist Morgan Lander making the guest appearance and doing an impressive job on “It Turns to Rust”. My one complaint is the three or so minutes of weird clock noises at the end of the album, but that is minor. Reign in Blood it's not, but In the Arms of Devastation is still bound to be one of the best death metal albums of the year.


[Tune in to Metal For Supper every Thursday from 2pm to 4pm.]