Can You See the Sunset? » album reviews

Agent – Awake In Their World 7″

Eric — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:34 +0000

If you aren’t familiar with this Long Island, NY quintet I’d suggest you take notice as this four song 7” is pretty doggone good. Awake In Their World was recorded by Phil Douglas (ex-Latterman) and falls squarely in that same vein of post-Lifetime East Coast hardcore-influenced melodic pop punk that really isn’t quite pop punk at all. Why’d I even say that? I dunno, maybe it’s because Agent sits (at least a little) in the same chair that Latterman also occupied but isn’t quite as overly gruff and/or political. There are also (and interestingly so) slight shades late-90’s Midwest emo sounds in the ringing almost Braid-esque guitar parts and the strained vocals and similarities to Woodson-era Get Up Kids. Trust me, I’ve been listening to this over and over since I got it. You can get the 7″ from Run For Cover Records now.

MP3:
Agent - Current

Cheap Girls – My Roaring 20’s

Eric — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:15 +0000

Hot on the heels of last year’s awesome Find Me A Drink Home, the Lansing, Michigan trio Cheap Girls is back with another great full-length full of straightforward punkish power-pop, My Roaring 20’s. There really aren’t any huge changes to be found when comparing My Roaring 20’s to their debut, but (again) it seems as if Cheap Girls know exactly what it is they do well and just stick with it. The production is (however) a bit better but still retains enough of the lo-fi charm that no one will accuse this record of being overproduced. It’s honest, earnest, and raw; like having to scrape the frost from your windshield on a cold late-autumn morning.

Reminiscent of all your mid-90’s indie favorites (think early Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr., Superdrag, Sugar, Gin Blossoms, Smoking Popes, etc…) this is music that can seem loud and energetic but still relaxed and a prefect soundtrack for throwing down a few cans of Special Export. The songs are catchy, the melodies are familiar, and it’s put together loosely in a way that feels genuine and comes across as imperfect but charming and better because of it. My Roaring 20’s has that fuzzy rough-around-the-edges feel that makes is seem worn in and not really of the present. Find Me A Drink Home was #14 on my list of last year’s best records, and My Roaring 20’s will undoubtedly make my 2009 list. The album is out now on the ridiculously good Paper + Plastick label.

MP3:
Cheap Girls - Ft. Lauderdale
Cheap Girls - One & Four

The Sidekicks – Weight Of Air

Eric — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:07:21 +0000

Again I need to ask the question, why is no one giving The Sidekicks any love? Their new album Weight Of Air is simply brilliant and a huge step forward for the band. Over the course of just one full length and a 7″ the band’s sound has changed significantly enough that it might be hard to recognize them as the same group that released So Long, Soggy Dog back in 2007. The quartet (from suburban Cleveland) has ditched most of the rough edges and standard-issue pop punk affectations of their early material and ratcheted up the rootsy folk underpinnings. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed their Sam 7″ and So Long, Soggy Dog, but Weight Of Air blows those records out of the water. Instead of reminding me of (say) The Loved Ones, The Riot Before, or The Gaslight Anthem, The Sidekicks now sound more like Uncle Tupelo and/or (more specifically) like a punked up version of Okkervil River.

From the initial off-key acapella harmonies of the opening song you know something is different. The guitars are more jangly than crunchy, the pacing is more rock than punk though there is a fair amount of peppy punky foot-tapping rhythms. The songs are simple and straightforward with little in the way of extra ornamentation but the songs are so heartfelt and so catchy that anything more would have been overkill. Weight Of Air has that earnest Midwestern/heartland rock sensibility and it just sounds right. Without question, this is one of the best albums of 2009. Just listen and I’m sure you’ll agree. Weight Of Air is out now Red Scare.

MP3:
The Sidekicks - A Healthy Time
The Sidekicks - Almost The Same

Left Lane Cruiser – All You Can Eat

Eric — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:48:37 +0000

After a long night of heaving drinking (I know we’ve all been there) you really only have two options if you can’t sleep it off. You can either find a Waffle House and thrown down some grits, gravy, sausage, and strong black coffee or you can suck it up and keep drinking. While neither really works and both usually (ultimately) leave you worse off than before, Left Lane Cruiser’s second album for Alive Records, All You Can Eat, is the musical equivalent of both those choices. You might be familiar with the band as having the #16 album on my list of favorite albums of 2008, but if you aren’t, listen up. Left Lane Cruiser is punk-ass blues duo from Fort Wayne, Indiana whose sonic slop is simply ferocious. Joe Evans bashes on the electric guitar and spits out distorted and liquor-stung vocals while Brenn Beck smashes his drums like a man possessed. It’s a rumbling tinnitus-inducing musical vertigo of swampy Mississippi-style ghetto electric blues that’s greasy, grimy, gritty, and basically un-fucking-real. It’s the kind of music that should be played in dark, sweaty, dive bars while yer pounding shots of Wild Turkey. What you really need to know is that All You Can Eat has been in steady rotation since it came across my desk about a month ago and ain’t goin’ nowhere anytime soon.

MP3:
Left Lane Cruiser - Crackalacka

Freshman 15 – Throw Up Your Hands For One Night Stands

Eric — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:28:55 +0000

OMGZ! For whatever reason I really love this album. I mean, like, despite my better judgment I like this a whole fucking lot! First, the album is ridiculously titled Throw Up Your Hands For One Night Stands courtesy of Atlanta, Georgia’s Freshman 15. They are one of those nu-pop-punk (or just call it pop-core) bands with overly-cheesy and cliched lyrics about loving and missing girls, broken hearts, and all those things. Yes, some (if not all) of the lyrics are cringe-worthy, but these guys seem sincere and I can certainly remember being in their shoes when I was younger (see Allister’s Dead Ends And Girlfriends as an example) even if their promo photos make ‘em look like complete douchebags. Wasn’t it all about the music once? Am I showing my age? Fuck.

Anyhow, the vocals sound a lot like the singer from Coheed & Cambria while the music isn’t complicated but sounds like a cross between New Found Glory and old Fall Out Boy (did I just say that?) It’s well-produced but not crazy slick. It really doesn’t sound terribly different from most of the pop-core being played today (like Hit The Lights, Bangarang, etc…) but something intangible just “feels” different; more like the pop-punk I loved in the mid 90’s. Well, not really, but I’m going to give Freshman 15 the benefit of the doubt here and (possibly) pretend that they aren’t just in it for the scene. I dunno. I really REALLY shouldn’t like this as much as I do but Throw Up Your Hands For One Night Stands speaks to my inner fifteen year old. The album is out now on Standby Records

MP3:
Freshman 15 - Phoenix Can Keep You
Freshman 15 - Our California Song

Billy Wallace – The Road Spit Me Out

Eric — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:58:49 +0000

I’ve never heard of an indie folk collective called The Wading Girl nor was I familiar with it’s frontman, Billy Wallace. I’m still not sure how that pertains to Wallace’s solo debut, The Road Spit Me Out, but it’s a cool little album full of what sounds like almost vintage sounding folksy old-timey country music that I might picture being played during the less-raucous operating hours of a dusty old saloon. It’s a bit twangy, a bit ragtime, and (overall) very traditional and authentic sounding (what I mean is that it sounds old without sounding artificially so) in a way that’s actually a little creepy. Wallace’s raspy vocals (sounding like a cross between Graham Lindsey and Jack White) are backed by the likes of guitars, pianos, harmonicas, banjos, brass, yearning fiddles, and more. The Road Spit Me Out is a rambling affair where no song really accelerates past a slow honky-tonk trot, and that’s fine with me. His original songs aren’t bad at all, but my favorite moment on the 9 song album was hearing Wallace’s cover of the Michael Nesmith penned song “Different Drum,” which is one of my all-time favorites. And just because, I’ve included a few different versions of the song but remember that “Billy Wallace High School Football Rules!”

MP3:
Billy Wallace - Wrecking Ball Blues
Billy Wallace - Different Drum

BONUS MP3:
Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys - Different Drum
Mike Nesmith - Different Drum
Lemonheads - Different Drum
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Different Drum

Nothington – Roads, Bridges And Ruins

Eric — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:36:46 +0000

Nothington’s 2007 album, All In, was good and ended up taking the #12 spot on my best of list for that year, but I wasn’t expecting the band to mature and progress as much as they have here. Every single song on Nothington’s new album Roads, Bridges and Ruins is a goddamn sing-a-long anthem. Seriously, it’s almost unbelievable just how good this (and that’s a 100% hyperbole-free statement). It picks up right where All In left off and finds the band continuing to play the raw, melodic, unpretentious anthemic punk that made us all love ‘em in the first place. Hints of rootsy Southern rock sneak into the songs and just up the ante even more. It’s like chasing shots of whiskey with Social Distortion, Hot Water Music, and Sludgeworth. Guitarist Jay Northington’s vocals are as coarse as 24 grit sandpaper and his lyrics are biting but guitarist Chris Matulich also contributes lead vocals to a couple songs and (along with bassist Tony Texeira) serves up some killer backing vocals as well. The guitar leads are amazing, the songwriting is tight, and there is virtually zero filler anywhere to be found. This little band from the Bay Area that started off as ex-Tsnuami Bomb and ex-Enemy You has become something of a force to be reckoned with. Roads, Bridges And Ruins is a powerhouse of an album that hits like a punch to the gut but has melodic hooks to make you keep standing in round after round and is out now on BYO Records.

MP3:
Nothington - A Mistake
Nothington - The Ocean

Like Bats – Demo EP

Eric — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:37:24 +0000

After reading what Will over at Sound As Language wrote (even though it seems to now be gone from his site) about these guys I knew I had to check ‘em out. Like Bats are a trio from Northwest Indiana that plays bouncy and melodic pop punk that’s melodic without being the least bit saccharine. Their Demo/EP has a treble-heavy fuzz that reminds me of listening to old 7″ records when I was 17 years old and is played with a Midwest charm and innocence that comes from (well) coming from the Midwest. Even the acoustic song at the end is cool in a Lawrence Arms/Falcon sort of way. The vocals are scratchy and Crimpshriney (yeah, that’s now a word) and sound (at times) crazily like my friend Joey Housewrecker (of Montgomery Burns, The Risers, and No On 15 fame). This was originally self-released by Like Bats but was recently re-released by Traffic Street Records. Overall this is super good and has me hoping for a full-length at some point!

MP3:
Like Bats - Lousy

Police & Thieves – Amor Y Guerra

Eric — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:29:15 +0000

Amor y Guerra is a collection of Police & Thieves’ three EP releases up to this point along with a few previously unreleased songs. The DC band features ex-members of Worn Thin and plays straightforward hardcore that’s a little melodic without really being melodic at all. Not that there is anything wrong with that, right? I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this while cleaning out my garage. So yeah, there’s really no “singing” at all but the vocals aren’t screamed either. They’ve also got some rock-and-roll undertones that are evident in the music as well making for a something a little more varied. Really (though) it is well-played and aggressive with plenty of gang vocals too. Amor y Guerra isn’t groundbreaking but is good enough that if you like bands like Dag Nasty, early AFI, or even In My Eyes, I’d suggest you check this out.

MP3:
Police & Thieves - False Parades
Police & Thieves - ...Like A Trainwreck

Lucero – 1372 Overton Park

Eric — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:08:57 +0000

I first heard them in 2003 (I think) and first saw them live in 2004, and somehow over the past 6 years or so Lucero has become my favorite band. I mean, I’ve seen them live a dozen or so times and my Last.fm stats pretty much echo that. At a time in my life when the shows I go to are getting fewer and farther between, I don’t usually miss Lucero when they come to town. All this brings me to the release of Lucero’s latest album 1372 Overton Park, their seventh studio album and first on a major label.

If I was to sum up 1372 Overton Park in one sentence, I would mumble something about how it’s the same Lucero I know and love but with a bit more grooming and polish. As I expected, this isn’t as raw or raucous as their live show or some of their earlier albums, but is still perfectly representative of what Lucero sounds like. Frontman Ben Nichols is as captivating as ever (maybe a little more as the vocals are mixed a wee bit high) and the best songs on the album are as good as any that he’s written, plus the addition of Rick Steff as (seemingly) a full time member on keys has augmented the Lucero sound as have the brass arrangements that appear on nearly every song. You knew I’d get to it sooner or later, right? Yeah, the band liberally uses horns.

Obviously, the addition of a horn section that’s featured prominently on almost every track on 1372 Overton Park is the biggest change that long-time fans will notice; a change that give a number of songs an almost Hold Steady-ish vibe or (maybe more accurately) a Memphis soul sound. Maybe it’s worth noting that Ben contributed vocals to a handful of songs on The Hold Steady’s last album Stay Positive, maybe not. Whatever the case, it really sounds as if Lucero is getting ready for at least an attempt at “making it” and becoming known to a wider audience. And if any band deserves it, Lucero is that band.

It’s the evolution of a country-punk band whose gruff twang was always bigger than the sum of its parts. So what’s the deal with the new album? Well, it starts off with the slow sweet build of “Smoke” and it’s gauzey backdrop, which (to me) almost sounds like it could have been from That Much Further West, more so than anything the band has done since then. It’s an incredible song that would make for one hell of a closer for their live set. It’s followed by “What Are You Willing To Lose,” which (again) has a refrain that you’ll be able to sing along to before your first spin is over. It’s a typical Lucero rocker (a la “Bikeriders”) that is anything but typical.

“Sound Of The City” is another good mid-tempo rocker that also prominently features horns and some sweet organ tones and even though the chorus sounds strikingly similar to the pre-chorus on “Smoke,” it’s still a keeper. The first slow song on 1372 Overton Park is “Can’t Feel A Thing” which (aside from the smooth-yet-sultry soulful horns) also sounds like awesome yet understated totally vintage Lucero. From there, the band revs back up for the swingin’ “The Devil And Maggie Chascarillo,” which might be most overtly catchy head-bopping song Ben and the boys have ever written. It’s a great song that actually reminds me a bit of Huey Lewis (that’s not a bad thing here) and when at 2:20 the song is stripped down to just a ragtimey piano fill, I get goosebumps.

The next song, “Sixes and Sevens” isn’t really my thing. It’s not terrible, but the horn lines are cheesy and with the backup singers it sounds like something a late night TV show house band would play as they’re going to commercial. It just doesn’t do it for me. “Goodbye Again” is another slow soulful ballad that’s followed by “Johnny Davis,” the first song that doesn’t feature any horns. It’s also the punkest and trashiest song on the album. It’s the point during the live set where the fights break out. “Darken My Door” is another ballad but burns and builds where “Goodbye Again” doesn’t.

“Halfway Wrong” is relatively simple song anchored by an unassuming melody and chord progression played by a jangly electric guitar. No big chorus here, but it’s a solid tune and the most “country” thing on the album. It also doesn’t have any horns. “Hey Darlin’ Do You Gamble” is the gem of the album’s second half. Complete with Todd Beene’s excellent pedal steel, this almost sounds like it coulda been from Ben’s solo album released last year. This is what Lucero sounds like at their best, and you can just about feel the ache. And instead of ending the album with a song about his grandfather, Ben sings the aptly titled, sparsely beautiful, and completely amazing “Mom,” a song that may (perhaps) take the place of “The War” in Lucero’s live sets.

With each spin 1372 Overton Park is becoming a better and better record. Not that it wasn’t great the first time, it was, but (at least for me) it took a little while to get used to the horns. There I said it. Honestly though, this might just be Lucero’s best album yet. I don’t have the history with 1372 Overton Park like I do with their earlier records, but there’s plenty of time for late whiskey-fueled Lucero nights ahead.

MP3:
Lucero - The Devil And Maggie Chascarillo
Lucero - Smoke