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City and Colour What is it with solo projects and the word "City"? Some time ago I wrote about Robert Nanna (of Braid and Hey Mercedes) and his City on Film solo project, and now Alexisonfire vocalist Dallas Green is releasing his own acoustic-guitar-driven collection, under the moniker City and Colour. Like Nanna, Green’s efforts sans band are disarming in their quietude. As long as you’re not expecting another Watch Out! though, this collection will not disappoint. "Hello I’m in Delaware" and "Save Your Scissors" are great little tracks. |
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The Fullblast "I’ve always been a sucker for happy endings" croons Fullblast vocalist Ian St. Anger doing his best Ataris impression. The whole album is like the full-length version of The Ataris’ debut EP; it’s a valiant effort but it doesn’t feel like anything you haven’t heard a thousand times over from various other sources. (When you consider that The Ataris themselves have been rehashing "San Dimas High School Football Rocks" for the past 5 years, it seems that that’s a common pitfall for bands like this.) It’s not a bad-sounding collection, but it’s not the most original either. |
The Strokes The Strokes’ next full-length isn’t due out until January 2006, but there’s already a 5-song sampler floating around. The single "Juicebox" is already getting airplay as well I think. I’ve never been that big a Strokes fan but I liked the whole garage rock movement that they helped popularize back in 2001 (although in that respect, I’d probably choose The Vines over these guys as the garage rock band; the movement came and went almost as fast their careers, so it seemed appropriate that they be the flagbearers … ok, that’s not totally true: the Vines are currently recording their third album as I write this. Forgive the not-totally-accurate soundbite). Right, so back to The Strokes: I think the reason why I’ve never been very enamored with Casablancas and company is that their music always seems so neutral. In part it’s because of the way he speak-sings everything (although Cake vocalist John McCrea gets away with it all the time), but mostly I think it’s because the music is fairly one-dimensional. Other than being consistent toe-tappers, their songs don’t really say anything. (And I don’t mean say as in lyrics; I mean say as in "evoking an emotion".) Granted, they do have that toe-tapping thing going for them, and this sampler is no exception. All 5 songs are Strokes-quality, although it’s really up to you how significant that benchmark is. |
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Capsule Reviews, Almost November 2005
29 Oct 2005Leave a Reply