Found in the dregs of internet sports news comments

album of the week - 8.4

Rx Bandits

Mandala

Sargent House (2009)

why you'll love it - unique blend of reggae and prog

why you'll hate it - long time fans will miss the horns

Did you feel as burned by the latest Mars Volta release as I had? Rx Bandits for the save! Their unique blend of reggae and prog rock can make you dance to the sweet melodies and drop your jaw with epic guitar shredding, sometimes in the same song. Heck, there is even a song sung in Español!

But wait, there's more! RxB is one of those bands that love their fans. On the first week of release, they had priced the Amazon digital download verion of the album for $2.99. Meanwhile on their website they were offering it up for $10 with a free copy of their 2006 (album of the year) record, "...And The Battle Begun"! [/billymays]

That is actually one of the reasons I love this band so much. Rx Bandits may be a bunch of stereotypical SoCal hippies, but they honestly do have a lot of love in their hearts. Not just for the music they create and are inspired by, but for their fans as well. And then there is that abundance of talent as well. They haven't written a single bad song in over a decade. They do very little overdubbing / lots of free jamming in their albums. And you'll never see the same show twice when they tour. Their evolution from typical goofy high-school ska band to what they are today has been wonderful to grow alongside as my own musical tastes have changed. Surely they are of of my favorite bands ever.

That being said, while this album is nearly flawless, there is a piece of Rx Bandits soul missing from it - the horn section. I won't argue that the horns are the heart of the band, especially since they've been pushed into the background over the last 3 albums; but they certainly were an ace up their sleeve. A long time fan can tell on this album they've tried to replace where you'd normally find a clever horn line. Sometimes they do this with a wall of guitars ("Hearts That Hanker For Mistake"), soothing violins ("White Lies"), or a lackluster harmony of "doo doo dooo"s ("March of The Caterpillar").

I can't hold it against the band for losing their horn section and being unable to replace them (kinda hard when you are an indie band in a niche genre), but the songs on this album are still amazing, and they are being forced to experiment in finding more ways to create melodies. Perhaps this is a good thing. This thought is further backed by the observation that the weakest song on the album, "Bury it Down Low" is the only song on the album that features horns, though Matt's vague hippie lyrics are the glaring flaw.

Because of the hole the departed horn section has left, this album loses a bit of what makes RxB very special. I think ...And The Battle Begun is the band's shining moment. I can't take away credit for what they have achieved here without the horns, though. This is a true labor of love, as is all of their recent albums. One last thing I love about this album is how it brings back the outro. The last two minutes of many of these songs range from beautiful to beautifully epic. It doesn't feel drawn out, like this review, it feels right. This is one of the best albums you'll hear all year.

Found in the coffee room at work

album of the week: 8.3

Vola & The Oriental Machine

SA-KA-NA Electric Device

Universal J (2009)

why you'll love it - 11 solid songs with excellent production and flow

why you'll hate it - huge departure from the evolving punk sound

2009's conflict of emotions award has its first bid with Vola & The Oriental Machine. For about three years, the UK style post-punk group have been sharpening their skills with each release, and finally reached perfection with last year's Halan’na-ca Darkside EP. The record was a flawless 20 minutes of high energy jams, that really made me enthusiastic to hear what they would do with a full album now that they've finally got it right.

The answer - throw it all away. The first single,"Weekend Lovers", is a total shock to anybody familiar with the band. To be fair, Vola's then-signiture breakneck dueling guitar section became gimped when a member left. It appears frontman Ahito Inazawa took that opportunity to entirely reboot the band by slowing down the songs and jacking up the electronics. SA-KA-NA Electric Device is a synth rock album, with little to no post-punk influence.

Here's where the conflict comes in, it's a damn good synth rock album. Just like last year's EP, there isn't a single song on here worth skipping. Hell, even the hidden track is a gem. As usual with every release, the opening song is a total killer. "In the morning" is one of my favorite songs of the year. "Turning Turning" is a much preferred single. The closest thing to a bad track here is "Dead or Dance!!" which struggles with English lyrics. So good songs, check.

In a couple ways, this album reminds me of one of my favorites, Progress by Rx Bandits. It marks a big evolutionary step for the band, the use of electronics is cleverly worked into the sound, and the production is fantastic. The outro to "No Dream" has Progress written all over it. Great production, check.

I love when bands evolve, but it still feels disappointing for Vola to take the next step so quickly after just finding their post-punk niche. I suppose not being able to still have your cake after eating it isn't a valid complaint, so dammit, I grudgingly admit this is a great album.

not a book about rock and roll

My songwriting hero "Dr." Frank Portman has a new novel out called Andromeda Klein. From what I have gleamed, I fear it may be a bit too Hot Topicy for my tastes, but I should trust Frank and give this a shot. His last book, King Dork, was hilarious and summed up a few of my high school experiences in a nice clever package. It was also a smart dig at the "Catcher Cult" of fuax-intellectuals, while not coming off as bitter. So maybe Klein has a bit of cynicism towards the teen-occult scene as well...

album of the week - 8.2

Big D And The Kids Table

Fluent in Stroll

sideonedummy (2009)

why you'll love it - Fresh new look on a struggling sound

why you'll hate it - too lovey-dovey, no punk

Going back to my favorite ska-punk bands from my high school / college days always gives me a guilty feeling of snobbery. I'm never quite sure who to blame for my disappointment. Concerning Reel Big Fish's last LP, I blame them for pandering to the 90's Hawaiian shirt wearing party wacky ska crowd. Less Than Jake jumped the shark, but then won their fanbase back with an LP that didn't do anything that stood out to me. It didn't feel like free expression, moreso an apology.n For that I blame the fans, who won't accept any kind of evolution from a band beyond their debut.

Which brings us to Big D. In 2005 I called How it Goes a modern day Destruction By Definition. Then they pushed their luck by having a go at a modern day Let's Face it called Strictly Rude. Rude had the lingo down, but didn't feel honest. Paint by numbers ska - which again sends my snobbery guilt levels off the charts.

Finally, we come to Fluent In Stroll, which contains no imitation, no pandering, and sounds like a free spirit! This may not be the most original piece of work I've heard all year, but this is the best direction a band like this could have taken. Big D manages to completely blow away all of the limitations they had by refusing to fall into the same old "we have to appease the core fanbase" trappings, AND without nerfing their horn section.

It's a chilled album, but beams with joy and positivity. The lyrics do tend to fall too far into relationship territory, but it keeps a good pace with the music and only once made me roll my eyes ("Chin Up, Boy!" is the kind of "there's somebody for everyone!" swill you'd expect to hear in an after school special). This album is total morphine compared to old Big D, but you'd have to be uptight as hell not to enjoy the grooves here. They're still danceable as ever.

The album is backed by a handful of female vocal harmony called "The Dollies". I don't know if they tour with these ladies, but for this album, it sounds great. This album does everything right that Strictly Rude did wrong. They dropped the checkered suspenders and carved their own niche. Fluent in Stroll isn't some masterpiece of creative evolution, but it's a great piece of positive vibes for a band that's been stuck in reruns.

another music video!

Jesus Crisco, how much does Victory Records suck?

[excerpt from the video descrip on Youtube]

"The creation of this video was funded entirely by the band, after our label refused to help us make a second video for our record. Our record label forced YouTube to remove our last music video from our account by claiming that using our own recorded music was a "copyright violation". If this video disappears from our account, we just want everyone to understand why. If you dig our band, or any band for that matter, make sure your support goes straight to the band and not to the companies that often times reap the benefits of the band's success without actually ever helping the band. Thanks."

album of the week: 8-1

the telephones

DANCE FLOOR MONSTERS

EMI Music Japan (2009)

why you'll love it - happy fun disco punk

why you'll hate it - lots of Engrish and no substance

This is a tragedy right here. DANCE FLOOR MONSTERS is such a fun album, I know I am going to burn out on it very soon. Until then, I'll continue to listen to big dumb loud fun disco-punk nearly every day in my car, and on my iPod at work!

The high pitched Engrish lyrics will soon grate on me, but the songs have such an immediate likability. I think it's because the whole album is so innocent. Almost all the lyrics are generally "CLAP YOUR HANDS EVERYBODY DANCE YEAH!" and there is no tacked on attitude or emotional or political message. Don't get me wrong; I love my intelligent and clever pop bands (The Weakerthans, Mr T Experience...), but I really do respect it when a band just goes "fuck it, this is about fun, let's not shoehorn in anything else."

This is also a big part of what makes DANCE FLOOR MONSTERS such a success over their debut LP, JAPAN; which had just a bit too many slow ballad-like songs that killed the pacing. While there are a few slower songs here as well, they all build to an exciting pace rather quickly. This album is a non-stop party.

I'm enjoying how much this band is evolving from "this is pretty nice fun stuff" to "good grief, this is really fun!" Just like Architecture in Helsinki, they seem to be cutting loose more and more every release and experimenting with more heart-racing material, rather than just trying to please faux-intellectuals.

Disposable? Perhaps... I'll be taking another hard look at this one at the end of the year. Though, you can't argue that the telephones failed in what they were trying to achieve with this album.

Late on this, but...

My computer broke last week and I only got to fixing it yesterday, so I didn't notice until today the new Coen Bros movie trailer! I don't know anything about it, but it looks great!!