Laughing Hysterically At Time Travel
Ah Black Friday… the day when the 1% tells the 99% to go save the economy. But if you’re not in the mood to stab a bitch for a flatscreen today, why not browse around ViolentSuccess to see what sort of music is new and awesome lately…
A.A. Bondy: Believers– Although I’m not familiar with his earlier work, hearing an album like this certainly warrants a closer examination. After being the frontman for Verbena in the early 2000′s, Bondy broke away and began to write folk-inspired Americana. But to say that this is standard singer/songwriter fare really doesn’t tell the story of this album. While I heard echoes of his inspirations now and again, to compare him to others in his genre doesn’t do it justice either. This is quite possibly the best singer/songwriter record I’ve heard in the last couple of years. To make a couple of comparisons, it reminded me of the earlier works of The Early Day Miners and Rex. But Bondy’s tremendously solid vocals are really what put it over the top for me because while there are plenty of bands who can put out a decent album musically, hardly anyone has the depth in the lyrics/vocals that he has. Its original, beautifully written, expertly executed and perfect from beginning to end. In short, it hits every note in my book perfectly and I loved every minute of it. Get this…10/10
Big Troubles: Romantic Comedy– While I admittedly don’t listen to a lot of rock albums lately, when I come across one that’s as smart as this one, I stop and talk about it. If I had to compare Big Troubles to anyone, I’d have to pick their closest musical relative as Superdrag. Now, if you don’t know who that is, that’s okay… they haven’t been relevant since the 90s. While there are more and more bands that take their inspiration from the 90s lately, this band will probably be one of the better ones that cross your path. Even when there were moments when I thought that a verse was a little lacking in polish, they’d always top it off with a singable chorus which incidentally happened a lot in the 90s too. But those stumbles are pretty rare and when considering a song as a whole, you’re typically left humming a chorus rather than a verse anyway. Other than that, Romantic Comedy is thoughtful, singable and when its all said and done, a fun record…9.2/10
Real Estate: Days– After a pretty decent debut record, Real Estate took a couple of years off to write their 2nd LP, Days. So the most important task in making a sophomore record is living up to expectations and maybe, just maybe surpassing them. I have to say that while I thought that their debut had promising aspects to it, this completely and totally blows it out of the water. There were times that I got bored on their first record and that’s what has ultimately kept them out of my circulation since then. The repetition that they tended to have seems to have been completely resolved. I mean, I didn’t expect it to be as good as this. I’m not sure what these guys did over the last couple of years, but whatever it was, it worked fantastically. This album does for indie rock what every new album from every indie band should: Broaden your mind and make you smile. Even when they slow down their songs, they’re just upbeat enough that the positive theme of the record stays intact. Overall, much better than I expected it to be and the biggest surprise I’ve had in months…9.4/10
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Hysterical– When I first came across CYHSY, I instantly loved them and their debut was immediately put at the top of my Album of the Year list. So naturally when their 2nd album came out, it blew me away, right? Well, no. In fact, I thought they completely dropped everything about them that made them interesting other than their vocals. Their style was different, poorly executed and in my opinion, it wasn’t a good style to begin with anyway. I don’t know if they drove everyone else away as quickly as they did with me, but I certainly found it easy to not give a shit anymore. In fact, I downloaded this in anticipation of hating it as much and not even reviewing it. But since I am here reviewing it, something must’ve changed. CYHSY has basically married their first 2 records and finally executed it as well as their debut. Where their 2nd album was sloppy, Hysterical is neat and tidy. But while there are the elements I liked from their debut present, they’re outnumbered slightly by the ‘new’ style. So while at least keeping things neat this time around and adding more synth than before, it doesn’t quite revive my feelings from their debut. If it were up to me, this would have followed their first record and their actual 2nd record wouldn’t exist. But if that happened, they would have fell firmly on their faces on this record and have been legitimately vindicated on their sophomore record, thus disrupting the space/time continuum and destroying us all! Oh well. I suppose considering the circumstances, it’s better late than never…8.0/10
Alessi’s Ark: Time Travel– Anytime I hear a female-lead with a folk backing, I’m usually about as interested as I am skeptical. Why skeptical? Well, other than being one of my most natural instincts, it’s also experience. Besides, it’s too easy to get into the whole ‘girl-fronted folk’ or ‘girl-fronted band’ stereotypes that really don’t do anyone any good. I hate marginalizing girl-fronted bands… kinda like that. See what I did there? Anyway, that’s an entirely different rant. You can’t really classify Alessi’s Ark as folk or country necessarily, but Americana seems to generalize their sound pretty well. While I enjoyed the charmingly-sung vocals, they also sometimes annoyed me when the lyrics became overly simplistic and shallow. The songs themselves were also all pretty charming in their own way, if not entirely consistent. What I mean is that the flow of the record was a little erratic at times to a point that you didn’t know what sort of song might be coming next, which is kind of a problem. If songs don’t seem to flow into one another seamlessly, it just throws the whole thing off. But, though not entirely consistent, overall this is charming Americana that definitely has it’s moments…6.8/10