C-A-U-T-I-O-N

I don't know exactly what Andriasang is. I guess it's a newsblog exclusively for Japanese video games. Well, it justified its existence this week by posting the 3DS instruction manual. Just like the Nintendo Wii manual, it features hilarious illustrations of what not to do with your hardware.

album of the week: 2.4

The Get Up Kids

There Are Rules

Quality Hill Records (2011)

why you'll love it: Long overdue evolution for a band back from the dead

why you'll hate it: If you pine for sappy love ballads, there is nothing for you

When I saw The Get Up Kids on their farewell tour in 2005, they were a band I actually believed were done. Despite their best efforts, they never really managed to shake the late 90's emo image of hopeless romantics. For that band to come back now, or any time in the near future, would also require that entire scene to make a return; and I think the past ten years of gothy nu-emo has buried any other perceptions of the genre forever.

Fortunately, that same band has not returned. It's the same lineup, same name, same singing voices; but an entirely new songwriting approach. I came into this album with cynical expectations of a Something To Write Home About (their most popular album) cash grab. Their absence made me forget that this band has never made the same album twice, and has spent the better half of their career running from the brand that album has left on them.

The first thing you'll notice about There Are Rules is the very obvious post punk influence, and more aggressive tone. Keyboards are used to make atmospheric sounds, or sharp, stabbing notes, rather than the traditional poppy blips & blops or welcoming piano melodies. It's a loud album, with a lot of distortion (damn, I love that fuzzy bass effect). When the songs are angry, they sound aggressive. When the songs are emotional, they are very spread out and moody. When they are meant to be catchy, they have a great Bloc Party style drum beat running throughout. All of these songs succeed in burning those emo bridges of the past. What I feel services this accomplishment the greatest, is the fact that there are zero love songs. Even in their past two albums, they've let a "Hannah Hold on" or "Never Be Alone" slip. This album finally pulls the rip-cord on all of that.

Another great thing is, even after spending a month with it, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface with these songs. I think by the end of the year, I'll really know these songs inside-out and love the album even more. Right now, I already love it; every single track. Pretty good for a band I never thought I'd hear from again, or even thought I didn't want to.

gaoooooooooooow

It's been over ten years since I could say Foo Fighters have done anything that comes close to awesome. Well, the DOA music video was pretty good...

But this is something that is without a doubt, fucking AWESOME!

Hype for new album begins!

album of the week: 2.3

Mademoiselle K

jouer dehors

EMI France (2011)

why you'll love it: catchy, well paced indie pop

why you'll hate it: A bit too much "major label polish"

I know zero French, but have listened to a lot of bands come and go. Going entirely off of production context, I am assuming Mademoiselle K has been picked up by a major label, and their third album jouer dehors, is getting a radio push. The songs are smoother, and slower than usual. There are few more ballad like songs to focus on Karen Gierak's vocals. I've heard this a dozen times with punk pop punk bands I liked in high school. To start waving the "sell out" banner feels a bit played out; or maybe I'm just too old to care anymore. Maybe it's also that Mademoiselle K has always had a melodic catchy foundation that can get away with excluding jagged guitar riffs and the occasional shouting.

The band's rough edges were never really their selling point anyway, just a bit of extra flavor. They make catchy indie music, which is still the priority for jouer dehors. While a few songs take it easy, the album never grinds to halt, and the songs never feel to sappy or serious. Just as well, none of the songs are watered down to the point where they are indistinguishable. Karen sings with a bit of cheekiness keeping a lighthearted fun pace. "Aisement" is catchy right off the bat. "Vade retro" satiates the old-school well enough. "Sioux" is moody, rocks, and has a great pace. There are some good highlights on this, but nothing that can stand up to some of my favorites on previous albums..

jouer dehors doesn't seem to have much staying power, so I wouldn't expect it to be this year's "yeah, it's normal music in a foreign language, but it's really really good!" album (I'm alluding to Asian Kung-Fu Generation's Magic Disk); but who knows… While this is a few steps away from the kind of band I was happy to have discovered a couple years ago, this album is a respectable flirtation with the mainstream. If you dig Metric, or any number of other catchy Canadian indie rock bands, you should feel right at home with this.

For the future!

Since buying a PS3, I haven't finished about half the games I've purchased. So I thought I'd take this month to try and wrap up as much of these titles as I can. Modnation Racers all but has a bow on it, as of this weekend. Perhaps scratching more than the surface of this title was a mistake. It was a charming "make your own kart racer" when I played bits and pieces last year; but became an infuriating exercise in patience as I played more of the single player campaign.

Read all about my pain and suffering in detail here.

album of the week: 2.2

Fujiya & Miyagi

Ventriloquizzing

Yep Roc Records (2011)

why you'll love it: very unique and cool

why you'll hate it: very repetitive

For the kind of compositions put together by Fugiya & Miyagi, it probably shouldn't take them over two years to make a new album. Ventriloquizzing, like their previous efforts, is a streamlined pop-cocktail of krautrock, R&B, and funk. It's important to emphasize streamlined, not as a synonym for "watered-down". The UK group (now a trio, i believe) emulates these genres with a whole lot of talent and class, but do so in a very simple three minute format. There are no LCD Soundsystem style long winded builds and eventful payoffs. It's a good thing there aren't because David Best's lyrics and vocal delivery are achingly repetitive.

So that's Fugiya & Miyagi in a nutshell. What's the story with this album? On the surface, not so much of a different one; but I found the overall tone and inclusion of more synthesizers to be a subversive change of pace. Most of the songs are still danceable, but just about all of them have a dark oppressive theme. There is a constant motif throughout the album of dominance and submission, and the band is happy to both roles. The mood stays the same, but the perspective frequently shifts. One track they're intimidating, "Sixteen Shades of Black & Blue"; sometimes introspective ("Ventriloquizzing"); or even delusional ("Pills"). They're never straight one-on-one with you, always through funhouse mirror; which is fun. My favorite song of theirs is "Rook To Queen's Pawn Six" off Lightbulbs (2008) which was a fun song about paranoia over a chess competition.

Like their previous releases, there are still some songs that are just too slow or desperately repetitive; but as usual, the cream rises to the top. I know a few clunkers are on there near the end, but all I can remember are all the cool and unique moments of Ventriloquizzing.

There's treasure everywhere!

Now that 6 weeks of snow in New Jersey is finally melting, random stuff is revealing itself all over. I'm almost positive my Christmas tree is still buried in front of my property, just now peeking out.

Today in front of a shopping center, I saw this

album of the week: 2.1

Cake

Showroom of Compassion

Upbeat Records (2011)

why you'll love it - Cake returns in full stride

why you'll love it - Insignificant addition to the discography in general

"Its been a long time" croons John McCrea. Something I and other Cake fans can't echo enough. It's been over six years since Pressure Chief, their last release. Of course, the band waits until the second track to express this sentiment. Cake has never been one to state the obvious, as well as follow trends, sing with excitement, or write about normal things. For such an accessible band, their songwriting style is wildly unorthodox.

Unique as they may be, Showroom of Compassion is anything but unfamiliar. This record hits all of the standard Cake notes. Plenty of guitar twang, an easy going pace, mariachi horns, soft keyboards, and lots of yelping between verses as the melodies crescendo. At this point one would question the necessity of this album (now their sixth). This is where the six year absence comes to the rescue! Time may be unkind to this release for not having as many memorable hits like "The Distance" and "Short Skirt / Long Jacket"; but right now the world needs some Cake, and Cake is what you'll get.

Very little separates Showroom of Compassion from much else of Cake's discography. If anything, I've noticed a bit more of an "epic" feeling from a couple of their songs. The instrumental, "Teenage Pregnancy" builds a heavy and stressful melody that says more than any of McCrea's usually cheeky lyrics could. "Easy To Crash" would have made a more appropriate closer than the floundering "Italian Guy" which just sounds like a rough draft of "Opera Singer".

Even though this record is nothing more than Cake as you've always known them, being the only band that does what they do keeps this from sounding like filler. There are no bad tracks on this. Most are good, the rest are left up to how much countryness in music you can handle. A few tracks near the end start to lay it on thick. The main question you have to ask yourself here is if you want more. My response is yes.