The Avenue | Music

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Keane - "Perfect Symmetry"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 29, 2008

Economy in crisis. Russia flexing military muscle. Metallica kicking ass. Yeah baby, it's the 80s all over again. Keane's look could use a perm and spandex, but their neon-flecked sound is already primped for the Jazzercise age. On "Perfect Symmetry," the British three-piece swaps their emo-piano fetish for synth-spiked, Ric Ocasek-approved retro goodness. The way-back machine takes full effect on the shockingly melodic "You Haven't Told Me Anything," which floats on breezy harmonies and hip-shaking new wave guitar. "Again & Again" only ups the pop ante with an absolutely explosive chorus. The bridge alone could erase the memory of "Is It Any Wonder?" Hell, it could single-handedly take down the Berlin Wall and vindicate Reaganomics: the good-idea trickle-down effect at last reaches Keane.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Monkey - "Journey to the West"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 29, 2008

English singer-songwriter Damon Albarn obviously has an affinity for primates. In his new incarnation as Monkey, the Gorillaz mastermind combines his love of hairy apes and the Far East in "Journey to the West," an ambient document that completely rationalizes stifling imagination at a young age. It's creative if nothing else, melding oriental instrumentation, electronic beats and the lyrical musings of geishas and dragon kings. "Monkey Bee," a hypnotic, synthesized rocker, arrives about twenty tracks too late and proves one of few passages to translate cleverness into actual appeal. The spastic chalk-board screech "Battle in Heaven," on the other hand, is payback enough for years of tainted crayons and chemically activated toys. As the opera progresses, the cultural connections emerge. You hit a great wall halfway through. The rest is like water torture.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: The Secret Machines - "Secret Machines"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 29, 2008

The comparisons between the Secret Machines and Joe the Plumber are all but unavoidable with said band's self-titled third album. Both phenomena receive way more attention than they deserve, have prominent direct articles in their names and now specialize in releasing crap. Things weren't always this way for the once-promising New York space-rockers. "Last Believer, Drop Dead" - addressed to their fan, perhaps? - showcases a fleeting bit of potential with appropriate grandiosity built by big, fuzzy guitar lines and a truly exhilarating chorus. "Have I Run Out" is more typical fare, as it sets psychedelic Dungeons-and-Dragons-styled ramblings to blunt-riffed agro-noise. The song mercifully ends at around eight minutes; the band's fame at fifteen.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Murs – "Murs for President"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 22, 2008

Where would democracy be without the third party? Exactly where it is today, but don't tell that to Murs. With "Murs for President," the L.A. rapper throws his hat into the political ring with a free-styling beat-fest that's both wordy and repetitive - he would make a great stump speech. His everyman message: "You might think that you know me / You know where I'm coming from." Actually no, Murs, we don't know you, so let's begin the vetting process. His stance on immigration, from "Lookin' Fly": "My Brazilian / She worth a few million / Beauty and brains / Might let her have my children." Surprisingly tolerant! Foreign policy experience, from "Soo Comfortable": "Moved away from Maui to European valleys." Hell, he's probably pals with Sarkozy. But can he pull the female vote? From guitar-riff laden "Road Is My Religion": "Every night different women want to please me." I think we have ourselves a contender.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: The Weight – "Are Men"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 22, 2008

Cows coming home, days in the sun, cold Budweiser - it's the finer things in life that concern country collective The Weight. While "Are Men" ruminates lyrically on simple pleasures and equally simple pains, the music relies heavily on intricacy. The cowboys' equation: Silver Jews, minus smart-ass irony and plus an extra shot of twang. "Hillbilly Highway" is pretty much exactly what you'd expect - a beer-soaked love song for hicks, fleshed out with organ fills and yeehaw fiddle. It's a somber affair for the most part, but "Had It Made" shakes off the Jack and Coke haze with a Tweedy-esque melody and stomping guitar interplay. The tune cuts to the barbecued heart of The Weight - these "Men" are really just a bunch of good ol' boys.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Of Montreal – "Skeletal Lamping"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 22, 2008

Kevin Barnes lost his marbles a long time ago. Now his pants must go. Of Montreal's "Skeletal Lamping" uncovers the brainchild's most outrageous fantasies in a series of wildly uninhibited hallucinations - each deceptively catchy, each bat-shit freaky. The track titles -"An Eluardian Instance," "Nonpareil Of Favor" - baffle as much as the actual music, which shuns conventional song structures for whimsical snippets blended indiscriminately into a faux-disco smoothie. Prince says it goes down easy. And it does - the slinky R&B, the electro-pop excursions, the noise jams. It's an orgy of a record that takes us to the bottom of Barnes's rabbit hole where he buried his two most cherished readings - Webster's Dictionary and the Kama Sutra.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Q&A with Rachel Yamagata

By CARLY FAIN | Oct. 22, 2008

Rachael Yamagata, the singer, songwriter and pianist, has released her second full-length album called "Elephants … Teeth Sinking Into Heart," and she's hopping on the bus for the Hotel Café Tour, which also features folk-rock singers Ingrid Michaelson and Meiko.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Rachael Yamagata – "Elephants … Teeth Sinking Into Heart"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 22, 2008

Dow, Pacman - it sucks to be a Jones these days. So to ward off any negative surname karma, Norah has officially changed her name to Rachael Yamagata, piano-crooner extraordinaire. On "Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart," Yamagata - if that's really her name - makes understated, acoustic music for coffee houses. For all of their nuance and organic instrumentation, "What If I Leave" - answer: I probably wouldn't notice because I fell asleep half an hour ago - and "Over and Over" match herbal tea for sheer excitement. It comes as a kick in the stomach when, for the love of PJ Harvey, disc two erupts with three vicious, melodic rockers. Maybe the Norah comparisons are off, but that's what she gets for making me suffer through the "Elephant" tranquilizer.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Oasis – "Dig Out Your Soul"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

If the Cubs ever won a World Series, the universe would collapse on itself. Likewise if Oasis ever made another classic album -some things just aren't meant to happen. But Noel Gallagher has a go at greatness anyway, and on "Dig Out Your Soul," he comes very close before little brother Liam and friends set him back another hundred years. The first four songs, penned by the older, more talented sibling, make up a bristling suite channeling the sounds of London, circa 1969. "Bag It Up" and "The Shock of the Lightning" strut to quintessential Oasis - swaggering guitar rock, pissed off and brash. And too good to be true. Liam and the rotating cast of sidemen promptly pull a Steve Bartman: distracting the professional from accomplishing something special.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Mercury Rev – "Snowflake Midnight"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

There's a place in the market for white noise, and nobody knows this better than Mercury Rev. With "Snowflake Midnight," the veteran space-rockers piece together an orthopedic pillow of an album that's not only as serenely unexciting as its name suggests but could likely accompany "trickling stream" and "rainforest animals" as the third setting on a Sleep Mate sound machine. Each of the few engaging moments scattered throughout - the soft-loud dynamic in "People Are So Unpredictable (There's No Bliss Like Home)," the Little-Drummer-Boy-learns-techno choral passage of "Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower" - is promptly smothered to death by an extended ambient interlude. This is the sonic equivalent of turkey: it's pretty bland by itself, and after consumption, all you want to do is take a nap.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: The Streets – "Everything Is Borrowed"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

Intellectualism isn't completely dead in America, but it's plugged to a ventilator. If The Streets are any indication, the academic inquisition hasn't yet crossed the pond. "Everything Is Borrowed," everything except the ideas, sounds like a particularly intelligent Black Eyed Peas spin-off, genre-hopping from English R&B to pop-laden beat poetry. Be this as it may, "Heaven for the Weather" jumps and jives on a piano-tambourine combo dolled up for mass consumption. No elitist claims here: this is freaking catchy, mate. "The Way of the Dodo," though, is problematic Al Gore hip-hop - smart, smug, warning human extinction. And it's kind of hard to dance to music about the end of the world.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Q&A with Brett Dennen

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

Brett Dennen said his desert island food of choice is sushi. After all, raw fish is already on the menu. This clever California folkie, who releases his third album "Hope for the Hopeless" on Oct. 21, is a man of sound judgment. Supports Barack Obama? Check. Keeps his childhood friends? Check. Huge Ween fan? Obviously.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Rise Against – "Appeal To Reason"

By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008

The boys in Rise Against could probably take out David Blaine in a breath-holding contest. How do I know? Because "Appeal To Reason" is a 47-minute, make-your-cheeks-turn red scream-a-thon, somehow peppered with enough actual words to resemble something of a concept album bemoaning the collapse of Western civilization. Exhale. "Kotov Syndrome" pegs the formula - hey! hey! backing vocals, mosh-inducing chord progressions and anger. Lots of anger. Not a great deal of range here, unless the scale runs from "'roid rage" to "where's the baseball bat?" "Collapse (Post-Amerika)" tactfully depicts a doomsday scenario. Spoiler alert - we spell America with a K. It all tries to sound grave and important, but through it all, your mind will wonder: Can these guys belch the alphabet?

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Q&A with David Banner

By ZACH SEYMOUR | Oct. 15, 2008

As he hung out on his tour bus with rapper Talib Kweli, David Banner talked to the Avenue about his Friday show at The Venue, hip-hop, politics and life in general. Since the success of his song "Play," Banner said he has been "working hard on the music, enjoying life - trying to get through."

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Jenny Lewis - "Acid Tongue"

By ROBERT HILSON Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

Innocence is like a dollar bill in a busted vending machine: Once it's gone, you aren't getting it back. So Jenny Lewis, whose up-until-now enduring image was that of a blue polka-dotted Southern belle, might as well kiss her Dorothy-esque appeal goodbye. "Acid Tongue" gets its title from the line, "I've been down to Dixie and dropped acid on my tongue." A thousand clean-cut boys in Middle America have just lost their princess. Freed from the burden of virtue, the prodigal daughter blossoms in this den of foot-tapping hell-fire. In "The Next Messiah," her sultry voice slithers atop bluesy guitars when a male voice chimes in: "I'm gonna give my love to you on a day you gotta bring it back." Our little girl is a full-grown tramp.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Pussycat Dolls - "Doll Domination"

By ROBERT HILSON Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

Catwoman, Hello Kitty, Yusuf Islam - whether through black spandex, lunch boxes or folk music, each of these feline enthusiasts have made meaningful contributions to the rich landscape of American pop culture. But not the Pussycat Dolls, who, with "Doll Domination," continue to claw their way through the ranks of tightly clothed MTV inventions with high-cut skirts and lowbrow R&B. "Bottle Pop" features some typically smooth lines from Snoop Dogg, and there's also a song called "I Hate This Part" - the girls showcase their command of irony. A little piece of my soul withered away when I heard this album. Still, this kind of music can't kill the Pussycats - they have nine lives.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Ben Folds - "Way To Normal"

By ROBERT HILSON Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

"Oh, that stupid bitch is mine." Now before you make any snap judgments, know that this line comes from a song called "Errant Dog." Get it? It's funny - or at least Ben Folds thinks so. On "Way To Normal," Nashville's longest-running jokester walks the fine line between kitschy fun and tasteless humor with twelve politically incorrect songs designed to challenge the gag reflex. "The Frown Song" and "Dr. Yang" play like dumbed-down, cheesed-up New Pornographers outtakes - frenetic, hyper-pop of the most hummable order. "Bitch Went Nuts" uses the phrase in a more conventional sense and adds a shot of gratuitous profanity for good measure. Call it a guilty pleasure if you'd like - the track has more hooks than a fishing charter. Get it? Hooks? Fishing charter? Ben would think it's funny.

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: Jack's Mannequin - "The Glass Passenger"

By ROBERT HILSON Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

There are a lot of ridiculous band names out there, but every once in a while, these guys will hit the nail right on the head. Jack's Mannequin: genius. It's got a ring that conveys all of this band's qualities - androgynously nice-looking, probably could be found in an Abercrombie & Fitch store, personality of a stiff piece of plastic. "The Glass Passenger" is the vehicle by which frontman Andrew McMahon pans off his stepford-wife rock 'n' roll on, well, whoever's into this kind of stuff. "The Resolution" and "American Love" will be hits on a spunk-rock station that plays your favorite mix of "80s, 90s and today!" But the kicker is a line from "Annie Use Your Telescope" that yearns, "Is there anybody out there?" It recalls the Pink Floyd song: "Comfortably Numb."

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Liquid Limbs goes for solid sound at upcoming concert

By JESSICA METZGER | Oct. 8, 2008

Kevin Nowak, Liquid Limbs guitarist and vocalist, gave an unusual forecast for the band's Saturday performance at The Atlantic. He promised a "razor sharp set of mind-blowing volcanic riff tornadoes."

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THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

MTV teams voter registration groups and bands to encourage voting

By CARLY FAIN Avenue Writer | Oct. 8, 2008

College students' participation is crucial in deciding which way the presidential elections will swing in November, according to voter registration groups such as Why Tuesday? and indie-rock band Death Cab for Cutie. To encourage students to vote, the band partnered with voter registration groups to organize the Ultimate College Bowl.