Album Review: Swoon

now playing: Silversun Pickups - Dream at Tempo 119

I, like many others, first discovered LA's Silversun Pickups from their song "Lazy Eye" appearing in Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour. Two other songs from 2006's Carnavas, "Melatonin" and "Well Thought Out Twinkles", came out for Rock Band 2 shortly after; it was the latter that convinced me to give Carnavas a shot. It's not a move I regret in the slightest. When I found out that Silversun Pickups had another album in the works, I had to get my hands on it, and here we are with Swoon, their second full-length album, coming out on independent label Dangerbird.

It's clear from the first track that Silversun Pickups have spent the last three years working on their sound. While Carnavas had a few tracks that stood out, it never really clicked cohesively for me; Swoon, however, flows much better and is overall a much more accessible album. And yet for all that's changed, so much has stayed the same. For example, the strong bass lines that initially drew me to "Well Thought Out Twinkles" are still present, coming out most prominently in "Growing Old is Getting Old", "Catch & Release", and the first single, "Panic Switch". Vocalist/guitarist Brian Aubert seems to have taken his singing down a notch, though: He has strayed from this strange sense of androgyny the first album had and now sounds like something that would do well on alt-rock radio in the mid-to-late 90s. The good thing is that this works very well in making Silversun Pickups more accessible and can only help their popularity from here.

Perhaps the greatest feat is how this album manages to sound almost mercurial at times and still be suited for almost everyone. Aubert makes a sport out of toying with the listener, switching from fantastically calm to face-rippingly chunky and aggressive from track to track and often even in the same song. This is nothing new to the band, of course; I'm just glad to see that that hasn't changed. See, for example, "Growing Old", which starts serene and halfway through turns into a sonic assault in the best way possible. But that's not the only way Swoon handles slower tracks; in fact, if the song starts calm, most of the time it will stay that way. That's something I really enjoy, because I've been waiting for a great album to relax to for a while. Easily half the tracks on Swoon fulfill that criterion.

Still, there are a few caveats. Swoon has a couple tracks that fall flat for me ("Draining", "Substitution"); in these cases, the songs sound too little like Silversun Pickups' previous work, which makes them seem out of place in the grand scheme of things. In some places, the breathing is too noticeable, which can annoy me if I focus on it for too long. My biggest worry is that all the songs clock in on the high end of four minutes at the shortest. Listeners might feel weighed down by the album or think that some tracks are dragging.

If you're looking for a distinct maturation in Silversun Pickups' sound, Swoon is the album for you. If you've never heard a single Silversun song before, I have to recommend this album likewise. It's a great introduction to the band and it easily rises to meet the expectations Carnavas set. I am also nominating it for the Chillest Album of the Year. B+

Swoon comes out April 14th. Preorder it now on Amazon or iTunes, and don't forget to check out the band's site to see what they've got planned. If you got tickets to Coachella, you can see Silversun Pickups there; otherwise, they're currently touring London.

100-Word Reviews: Bang Camaro

now playing: Taxpayer - Creatures of Habit

Boston-based Bang Camaro are the cockiest of cock rock and I love them for everything they do. With 22 members, 70% of them vocalists, it's hard to take a step in Boston and not run into a band associated with them. But I think my favorite part is their touring policy: If you're in town and know the songs, you can rock on stage as a member of Bang Camaro. I got to see a performance with a smaller cast at the Rock Band release party back in 2007; it rocked my face off. I suggest you do the same.

What I Can't Stop Listening To: March 2009

now playing: Coheed & Cambria - Feathers (Glitch Mob Remix)

Now that this blog is finally starting to pick up steam, I've decided to include a new offering in this monthly article. It's an offering that requires its very own disclaimer, no less! I've decided to start providing a direct download of the songs mentioned in this article, to be found at the end of the article. Disclaimer: I have no vested interest, monetary or otherwise, in providing these links outside of exposing the readers of this blog to new music. I have acquired everything I provide legally and encourage others to do the same. With that said, here are the five songs I can't stop listening to for March 2009.

05) Coheed & Cambria - No World For Tomorrow (Live at Neverender)

When I first heard about Coheed's four-night epic telling of their story, "No World for Tomorrow" was the song I was most looking forward to hearing. Long-time readers should know I'm a sucker for crowd callback sections, and with the first line of the chorus as "Raise your hands high!", well. I might be a pretty bad Coheed fan, since I've only really gotten into their later stuff, but good or bad doesn't matter when you can get together with 14,999 other fans and, simply put, rock the hell out. I just wish I could have been one of the lucky few to see it live. But now that the CD/DVD set is out, I can be (sort of), and so can you. Pick up Neverender: Children of the Fence Edition on Amazon or just go for the DVD set if you don't feel like dropping $100.

04) Falconer - Lord of the Blacksmiths

I wrote a little about this song in my 100-Word Review of the album, but not as much as I would have liked. This song starts with a meaty riff that turns into high-speed guitar work, adds a fantastic bass hook in the chorus, and uses the double bass drums to accentuate the story of Hephaestus, godly armorer and lord of the blacksmiths. "But wait!" I hear you say. "That's not enough!" All right, how about a hammer striking an anvil in the last chorus? Does that drive the point home? I hate using this word because the internet has ruined its original meaning, but this song is positively epic. Enjoy it with me, won't you? Then check out Falconer's debut album on iTunes or Amazon.

03) Pat Benatar - Heartbreaker

I pose to you a question, dear readers. Pat Benatar: Great female singer of the 80s or greatest female singer of the 80s? There is a right answer, and it is of course the latter. Some might say "Love is a Battlefield" or possibly even "Hell is for Children" is her best song, but to those people, I say YOU'RE THE RIGHT KIND OF SINNER TO RELEASE MY INNER FANTASY! THE INVINCIBLE WINNER AND YOU KNOW THAT YOU WERE BORN TO PLEASE! As it should be obvious at this point that I have very little of substance to say about this song, let's just do the Amazon and iTunes plugs for In the Heat of the Night and move on, shall we?

02) van Canto - Fear of the Dark

With van Canto, I have possibly too much to say. Let's start with the obvious. Yes, this is a cover of Iron Maiden's "Fear of the Dark" as it first appeared on the 1992 album of the same name. What makes it special? van Canto is a band whose lineup comprises five vocalists and a drummer; that is to say, it's a cappella metal. I know, I barely thought it was possible, too, but these guys have filled a very selective niche very well. They have a few covers like this, including Metallica's "Battery" and "Wishmaster" by Nightwish, but most of their material is original. You can hear covers of Manowar, Blind Guardian, and Deep Purple alongside their original songs on Hero, available as an import on Amazon.

01) That 1 Guy - Buttmachine

This song by That 1 Guy apparently appeared on Weeds recently, but I don't watch that show, so I wouldn't know. I do know that he played a club in Boston recently and I am kicking myself for having missed it. That 1 Guy is a one-man band featuring Mike Silverman as That 1 Guy playing an enigmatic instrument known only as The Magic Pipe. Silverman constructs his songs as bizarrely as his instrument, and it works; "Buttmachine" is largely nonsensical, but still the greatest anthem to the gluteus since Trace Adkins' "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk". His albums follow the same pattern: Songs in the Key of Beotch is one of the best titles I've heard, but The Moon is Disgusting is where you'll be able to find "Buttmachine" and ten other songs. Pick it up on Amazon or iTunes.

You can download all five of these songs here (39MB). I'd apologize for sendspace, but it's my only means right now. I'll be sure to maintain the link if it goes down.

That's all for March. April will bring reviews of Coheed's Neverender and The Ghost Hounds' Vintage Trouble; if we're lucky, we'll also see Drist's The Science of Misuse. Until next time, keep your eyes on the skies.

Album Review: Give Me Back My Metaphors

now playing: The Sterns - Who Stole Your Drugs?

Okay, this one's probably cheating a little, since The Sterns' Give Me Back My Metaphors is a three-song EP, but I've been waiting for this release ever since I saw The Sterns live last October. Like I mentioned in my very first post, this quintet recently turned into a trio featuring the namesake Alex Stern on guitar and vocals, Emeen Zarookian on bass and vocals, and Zak Kahn on drums. I've talked with Emeen and Zak (the former is an employee at Harmonix Studios in Cambridge) and both of them seemed really excited to get this EP together. It doesn't take long to see why.

The title track opens with a killer bass line that moves seamlessly into the same kind of songwriting I've grown to love in this band. It's a sarcastic little song about a relationship, and it manages to rhyme "sympathetic" with "anesthetic". Track two, "Total Fitness", talks about a three-year affair between lovers who met at the gym and shows off some harmonies between Stern and Zarookian that remind me of the Police. And "Who Stole Your Drugs?" seems to be directed towards a couple different people who have done terrible things and blamed it on drugs. And how curious that those drugs are missing now.

Basically, what listeners can expect from this EP is more of a stripped-down sound, since their keyboardist is no longer there. But it's still the same Sterns from Sinners Stick Together; all the songwriting is in place (and has in fact improved), and the band seems just as psyched about these new songs as I am, so that's always a plus. I look forward to hearing the metaphors they've been holding back. A

Give Me Back My Metaphors is available on The Sterns' MySpace.

Album Review: American Soldier

now playing: Queensrÿche - Suite Sister Mary

I know this isn't Coheed & Cambria's Neverender as I said I would do, but thanks once again to my good friend Jordan "Hawk" Munson, Queensrÿche's latest album, American Soldier, was brought to my attention. I had to stop the Coheed review and do this instead. After all, I love prog, I love metal, and I love the 'Ryche. We'll return you to your regularly scheduled Neverender review sometime soon.

The biggest issue I have with any Queensrÿche release after 1990's Empire is that I will inevitably end up comparing it to the group's first concept album, Operation: Mindcrime, released in 1988. Mindcrime is my favorite of all the metal albums I own and I have said on more than one occasion that it is the greatest metal album ever made. I might be unfairly setting the bar way too high, but so far, I haven't heard a Queensrÿche album better than Mindcrime. Mindcrime II fell flat, and the less said about Q2K, the better.

And that brings us to Geoff Tate's latest brainchild. American Soldier is another stab at a concept album, this time with all the songs inspired by stories told to Tate by veterans. Sound clips of these stories are interspersed throughout the album in an attempt to evoke emotion. Unfortunately, it fails to do anything but bore me, quite honestly. Perhaps I'm not the intended audience for this album; perhaps I'm just too jaded at this point to care as much as I should. So the spoken word excerpts aren't for me. It's not like they're all the album is. Let's focus on the rest of the album.

It almost pains me to say this, but from the first couple songs, I could have sworn I was listening to a nu-metal album. If I took Tate's voice out of the mix, I could have heard any single one of these songs on top 40 radio five years ago alongside Disturbed and Slipknot. "Sliver", the opening track, even has channel-panning gang vocals, a mixed-down solo, and a breakdown. This, obviously, does not bode well for a band in the progressive metal genre. The first time I heard a song that could have stood up to the top 40 and shoved it down in an uncaring act of defiance, I was more than halfway through the album. Track 9, "Man Down!", has a powerful and bass-heavy leading riff that, unfortunately, disappears pretty quickly once the song gets going.

On that note, there are parts of songs that do stick out to me. "Man Down!" has the riff. There's a brief saxophone solo at the end of "Middle of Hell" that did surprise me, and the group chorus vocals on that same track definitely reminded me of the Empire era. By and large, though, the album is just bland. It's neither particularly good nor particularly bad, but it's certainly not the Queensrÿche I've come to know and love. If they really pulled all the good parts together, they might have enough for one song of their earlier caliber; two if they stretched it. If these guys plan to do another concept album, I'd like to hear a little less speaking and a little more "Speak". C-

American Soldier hits record stores on March 31st. You can pre-order it on Amazon or pick it up at Queensrÿche's official store. The American Soldier Tour kicks off on April 16th in Seattle; head here for tour dates and more information.

100-Word Reviews: Falconer

now playing: Falconer - The Past Still Lives On

200 pixels does not do the album art justice for Swedish power/folk metal band Falconer's 2001 self-titled debut. This would be a great album to experience live just to sing along with the band in songs like "The Lord of the Blacksmiths" and "Heresy in Disguise". The Swedish bonus track, "Per Tyrssons Döttrar I Vänge", brings the folk elements to the forefront. While not every song on this album shines, its hard-hitting riffs and booming double bass, coupled with the use of an anvil as an instrument, make for an incredibly strong example of what power metal can really be.

100-Word Reviews: Vampires

now playing: Coheed & Cambria - Welcome Home (Live at Neverender)

One thing before today's 100-Word Review: There's a review proper in the pipelines. You see, Coheed & Cambria's live magnum opus, Neverender, dropped today. And I've been waiting for it for quite some time. So keep your eyes open for that.

Switzerland's DJ Bobo is a unique person, probably most famous for his song "Chihuahua", used in a modified form for the trailer to Beverly Hills Chihuahua. This album is a dance-pop concept album about a vampire in love with a human, or maybe an angel; I'm not quite clear on that. "Vampires Are Alive" was his entry in 2007's Eurovision; he got a lot of ridicule for that, but I disagree. This album is a fun little distraction. I still spin it up whenever I want to dance or just goof off. Musically, it's not much. But it's definitely fun.