Motor City Rocks has tried out a new musical experiment. State of the art criticism at it’s best. Five people enter into a room, listen to three albums from three bands, not knowing the name of the band or any of the songs. They say what they’re thinking about the song AS IT PLAYS! We’re not Pitchfork, I’m not good at adjective laden hyper description of sound. This is an album on trial, being judged by peers. All of our comments on the albums are posted anonymously below. We hope you enjoy!
Just Boyz – Sorry Ladies!
Just Boyz was the house band at Scrummage University and played under the name Benny Stoofy for most of their live shows. Just Boyz is Ben Christensen, Conor Edwards, Antonio Manzari, Eric Chodoroff, and sometimes Alex Lauer. Conor, Ben and Alex make up Lord Scrummage.
You can download and stream the entire album here at their website FREE.
ONTO THE REVIEW:
This sounds like the Residents when they were in pre-school. Sounds like a movie soundtrack. They sounds like a normal band under water. It’s like Malcolm in the Middle goes to the carnival and this is the background music. If They Might Be Giants and Dan Deacon had a baby, Not their adult offspring, their nine year old. Feels like Zappa without the hard edge. You’re going to have to take a few monster bong rips to really appreciate this. Was this the Bubble Bobble Super Nintendo music? The perfect music for a video game about monkeys. Reminds me of early 70s Pink Floyd, the soundtrack to More. I think they stole unreleased tracks from Ween. I feel like it’s background music. There’s a lot of things going on at the same time, a weird vocal thing, the 8 bit noise, and the melodies, instruments going in and out. We should let them know which parts they like so they can decide which band to be. They seem like a different band with each song. I have to say I don’t really like this band over all. I can’t see putting this in and listening to it. It seems like a new band getting a feel for what works for them, I like parts but there’s too much going on.
Final rating: 2.1 out of 5
Mahoney – Mahoney (EP)
First let me point out, this band is Mahoney, NOT The Mahonies.
ONTO THE REVIEW:
This is very middle of the road typical rock. I’ve heard this type of road a million times. I can see them winning a radio contest and opening for the foo fighters and being really stoked. In every song, there’s the pop gimic sound effect. They stick every single top 40 gimic in over and over. It’s concentrated bubble gum. During one song, there will be 4 really obvious popular band influences. A single song sounds like 3 other people’s songs. I hear a little bit of Bloc Party in there. It’s well produced and well mixed, it sounds good. I can picture it on the radio. I feel like this is a guy’s final project for mixing and he’s trying to prove he can do everything. Kind of formulaic. This one sounds like a Good Charlotte song. I’m over this band. I can’t believe the lyric mentioned a gun, this has nothing to do with violence, it’s like they throw in these words to prove to their mom that they were bad ass. This is the music the masses want, we’re just too much a bunch of pretentious dicks to enjoy it. This is a 13 year old’s punk now-a-days. I hear a lot of early 90s grunge influence. 89X amalgamated into one album. Were they on that show “The Making of the CD Dollar Bin band”? Good energy. Everything is very in the pocket. Produced and preformed well. Devoid of any interesting ideas in any way. This is the music you would hear in a bar in Livonia. If I didn’t know this band and they opened for a band I was going to see, I’d leave the bar and try to get re-admitted later. I hope this band is underage because no one over 18 will want to fuck them. The twilight crowd, mother daughter multiplier. This is the Kanye part. This is a baaaaad song. The only thing that could redeem this song would be if there was like a 3 minute long Slash style guitar solo. They need some guy just wailing on his ax. You know that you’re going to be the guy that this guy tells to fuck off in the liner notes of his first platinum album. Our complaints about this album will probably be compliments to them. The only band I didn’t hear them ripping off were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and if you’re aiming that high, you need to put some slap bass in there. They need a rapping segment during the bridge of this song.
Final rating 1 out of 5
Robin Parrent – Beauty Damaged
This is Robin Parrent’s solo album he was in The Subnormals, The Craves, the Revenants, and Violent Ear (according to Last.fm which is never wrong).
ONTO THE REVIEW:
Charles Manson’s ice cream truck is here! Very 60s. Nice marching rhythm. With this band I feel like it’s someone writing about something that he feels, he’s trying to express a genuine emotion and tell a story. This isn’t bad at all. I’d like to see them live. The female vocals compliment his voice really well. It sounds like they have a really good knowledge of music, they sound like an experienced band, who’ve written lots of songs before. . They have dynamic rythms. This has a very Rain Dogs Tom Waits feel to it. They have a bit of the Violent Femmes too. I’d pay around $6 to see them live. I’d like to hear the female vocalist sing lead on a couple tracks. The whole album has it’s own flavor which you can tell it’s intentional. The lo-fi distortiony feel is a really good sound to have right now, and they do it well. This is kind of a post-white stripes, grunge rock detroit, but they hit it at a good time. The singer sounds a little like Jack White at times. It’s not a big thing, but I like the little soundscapey type noises in between the songs helps it, it pulls the album together with a theme. This song sounds like Jim Morrisson when he’s strung out on smack. Ok, this part is just the vocals jerking off “look what I can do with my voice!” Gordon Gano in his darkest moment wouldn’t have done this song. Is someone noodling on a violin? This part’s boring, it sounds like he’s just tuning up or something. This has a cool Dick Dale guitar part. He has a lot happening in this music, but it’s not too much. He’s got a great progression where he’s ascending musically. In a lot of music, it’s the silence that’s the most important parts, and I think he understands that. This part reminds me of a track from the Velvet Underground’s third album. He’s a good guitar player. It goes from a really fun album into a lot of dicking around. It kind of lost momentum.It sounds like that guy on QVC who sells guitars….Estaban? He’s just dicking around on the guitar now, this doesn’t sound like a song even. It’s no longer a song, it’s a religion now. This is his vocal warm up that accidentally got recorded. If I woke up tomorrow on a raft made up of strung together with logs with a piece of straw in my mouth and a big oar, I would listen to this. I just want him to scream or do something. This sounds like something he could be playing in bed, I can’t see him rocking this out live on stage. Sounds like a cd you’d get at a renessance festival.He needs to emphasize the guitar a little less. These are some mad Bauhaus style vocals.
Final rating 2.75 out of 5 [after this was established there were people trying to push their rating up because they thought Robin deserved at least a 3, but we finally agreed that vote manipulation doesn't help out the democratic system -ed]
Your critics:
Steve Barman
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Jim Davey
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Kevin Eckert
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Lance Mitchell
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Chris Theisen
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The Summer Pledge’s debut album, You Are You
, is an audio canvas that the band has painted with a moody, atmospheric sound. The album blends together pleasantly to make a nearly interconnected opus from the first track through the eighth. The spacey sound carries through the album from start to finish, and each track is decorated with chiming guitar arpeggios, unconventional drum beats, captivating bass lines, and nostalgic lyrics. The recording itself is fantastic, and the layers of the instruments, effects, and vocals are skillfully constructed. The vocals sound slightly behind the mix giving the album a dreamy, outer space sound as the guitar riffs jingle through your ears, and the bass line carries each song through carefully landscaped changes. The album is on the shorter side, and with good reason so that not to lose a listener’s attention to long winded space jams. The title track of the album lends itself to stand alone, but some of the songs lack individuality outside of the album. These skilled musicians make You Are You exceptionally pleasurable to the ears, and even better if you listen to the album in its entirety.
FEATURED TRACKS:
“Who Are You” – The Summer Pledge
“Silver Choice” – The Summer Pledge
** You Are You can be found online at Woodbridge Records or on Amazon.
The debut album form Zoos of Berlin is a startlingly expansive journey of a gorgeous spacey soundscapes. Drummer/engineer Collin Dupuis and band mates recorded Taxis
in a make-shift 5,000 sq. foot studio within the Russell Industrial Center. The result is a haunting and natural reverb and tonality that brings to mind David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy. The texture isn’t the only thing the Zoos have going for them, they have an inherent sense pulling out fresh melodies from complex layered harmony. The vocal work of Trevor Naud and Daniel I. Clark is precise and flexible. Their vocal styling reminds me of the Beta Band, but Zoos have a wider range.
The songs are diverse, yet remain consistent thematically. “Black in the Sun” has a rippling horn punctuating throughout the catchy krautrock. Clocking in at just over two minutes, the cryptic lyrics and baroque keyboards don’t leave anything feeling incomplete. “Juan Matus” has a flavors of Stereolab which escalates into a hazed merry-go-round collapsing onto itself, only to resurface as a lounge-y keyboard solo from Will Yates. Another golden track, “Electrical Way” has a funk reminiscent of Headhunters era Herbie Hancock while maintaining the straightforwardness of The Strokes. As with the other songs on Taxis, “Electrical Way” doesn’t give you the opportunity to get bored, it re-invents itself seamlessly and beautifully. I can’t recommend this album enough.
FEATURED TRACK
“Black In The Sun Room” – Zoos of Berlin
** Zoos of Berlin will be playing at the Crofoot in Pontiac on Friday, November 6th along with Black Heart Procession, Thunderbirds Are Now! and Prussia.
Last May I reviewed a concert of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. They played with Sister Suvi and Samantha Crain. During the show, Thao invited members of the other bands into their set and played several songs along with them, making for an astonishingly wild and active stage. What an amazing performance! With as many as 9 people crammed onto the tiny stage within the Beachland Tavern, I found myself torn between taking photos and dancing. Seeing Thao live and with the caliber of energy that they presented to that crowd seems to have carried over into their new album Know Better Learn Faster – specifically with “Cool Yourself” and my favorite on the album “When We Swarm”, a dashingly slick song that begs you to dance like Ben Afleck in Chasing Amy (You know, in the bar when he’s rubbing his chest and swaying awkwardly). Anyway . . . I also seem to be hearing slight influences from Sister Suvi throughout the album. In Thao’s previous albums they have been, by and large, almost comedic and definitely upbeat with their musical juxtaposition. Know Better Learn Faster does bring some more serious themes to the table. These new elements and change to their already stellar style only solidifies the album’s place within Thao Nguyen’s discography and it comes highly recommended.
Folk Rock Lovers – Eat your heart out.
Don’t miss their upcoming show at the Magic Stick this coming Halloween night!
Friendly Foes has a didactic name and there’s two seperate voices emerging on their new So Obscene EP . I don’t mean just the voices of frontman Ryan Allen and singer Liz Wittman. There’s the first two tracks “How It Works” and “Keep Breathing” which fly by like a car filled with sugar-high teenagers on a summer day. “Keep Breathing” is definitely the stand out song from this release. Wittman’s voice has an attitude and sexiness you can believe in, accompanied well with Allen’s fuzzy lively guitar, and the boisterous bumpings of new drummer Sean Sommer. The other half of the EP slows in both tempo and enjoyability. “Paint It Gold” and “Line Up” seem like they’ve been done before to the point where they’re a copy of a copy duo of pop songs that escaped the mid-nineties. You don’t know what you’ll get when you party with your frienemies, just like Friendly Foes’ So Obscene.
FEATURED TRACK:
“How It Works” – Friendly Foes
So Obscene will be released on 7″ record on October 10th from Gangplank Records. The official release show will be October 10th at the Berkley Front with the Javelins and Allan James and the Cold Wave.
Duende!’s new album Remnant of a Remnant is a powerful dose of Western psychedelic garage rock. If we consider a remnant of a remnant as something like a family tree, Duende!’s branches might be touching Reverend Horton Heat, Sebadoh, and The White Stripes. Duende! has a flare all its own, though. Jeff Howitt’s gritty crooning voice spotlights this top notch four piece ensemble.
Joel McCune creates a blistering guitar soundscape in “Nueva Fiesta”, a gleeful rollick about finding happiness in love during the destruction of the world. “Nevr To You” is definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album. The song is a slow sincere introspection with haunting beauty. Laura Willem (drums) and Jason Worden (bass) also make up one of the best rhythm sections in the area.
When you see Duende! perform live, you had better hope that they don’t play too late in the night. Duende! is not a band you see, then go home and go to bed. Duende! is a band that you see, then you head from the venue to the liquor store to buy some whiskey (don’t bother with a chaser or mixer), head to the loudest house party and dance the rest of the night until you pass out on someone’s dirty couch. If you’re lucky, said party will be playing Duende!
FEATURED TRACK:
“Red Lodge”
** Pick up Duende!’s Remnant of a Remnant direct from Loco Gnosis Records here.
The debut album form Metro Detroit’s Almost Free may clock in at 35 minutes, but it will only take you only sixty seconds to realize that principle songwriter Andy Bird (vocals, guitar) is an extremely talented individual.
The uptempo Modern Mistakes gels in overall theme as the ten blissful tracks revolve around relevant 21 century disillusions that engulf the everyday man. These darker tones are catapulted by Bird’s pop perfect vocals and are backed by the hard hitting rhythms of Bob Impemba (bass) and Garren Steven (drums). Throw in a synthesize and some outstanding production quality and this album stands up as one of the best local release we have seen this year.
Song highlights include the cyberpunk “Computer Relations,” high flying “Are You Entertained” and alt rock friendly “20something.” However, it’s the mid-tempo ballad “Never Said A Single Word” that pulls me in and makes me want to dust of my collection of Glen Philips recordings. Even though musical comparisons alluding to The Killers or Radiohead can be made across the spectrum, this album holds its own as a fresh and clean take on tried and true modern rock sound.
FEATURED TRACK:
“Never Said A Single Word”
** This coming Friday night at PJ’s Lager House (July 31st) is theMotorCityRocks.com Summer Showcase featuring 800beloved, SikSik Nation, The Juliets and Almost Free.
Like most of Love Meets Lust’s stuff, their In Disguise EP (released in the popular free download format) is pretty 80’s-soaked, with no shortage of synth blasts, drum machine-beats and robo-voices… but what isn’t pretty 80’s-soaked these days? LML do it wholeheartedly and unabashedly. In Disguise is a quickie, taking LML’s typically goth-tinged songs and reimagining them a bit more danceable– basically, it’s a twelve-inch in mp3 form, with just four original songs and four guest remixes (three of which are for “Cop Lights”). For fans of that sort of thing, the treat is that twelve-inch tradition of dance remixes: Elomak dices up the vocals on “Cop Lights” and makes it an instrumental techno track, while the aptly-named Modfunk recasts it as a funky dancefloor jam and Chris Samuels sets it to a meandering aggressive electro-jungle beat.
FEATURED TRACK
“Cop Lights”
Did you ever wish The Circle Jerks made relaxed skate punk you could relax to? You’re in luck with New Grenada’s Energy Shortage, an album best listened to outside on a sunny day while drinking a forty and slacking off. After listening to the album several times I’m eager to hear the New Grenada live. Energy Shortage has a feel that’s straight out of the mid 90’s California punk scene. You can’t blame them for being 15 years late on the album because the places it takes you are, if you’re an elderly dinosaur like me, familiar and comforting. New Grenada aren’t treading any new or revolutionary ground, but are a welcomed variation on the theme of punk, blues, and indie rock. “You’re Caught” remains a high point of the album, with a certain internal contradiction that plays out as a particularly catchy tune.
FEATURED TRACK:
“Energy Shortage”
** New Grenada, along with Millions of Brazilians, Love Meets Lust and Noman will be playing at next Saturday night’s MotorCityRocks.com Showcase at the Belmont in Hamtramck (June 6th.)
Having listened to the Hard Lessons for the first time this week, I now realize why everyone I’ve been talking to for the last few months praises them so much… the married duo of Augie Visocchi and Korin Louise Visocchi have a compatibility and synergy which should lead them to mainstream success. Their new album Arms Forest is a delicious multiflavor collection of Detroit garage rock with something for everyone. Haunting opener “Manoogian Zoo” grounds them not only in their Michigan roots but the overall depth of the album. “Roma Termini” is so catchy and well produced the hardest lesson may be turning off your ipod, the mix of autotune rock vocals, fuzz and Spanish guitar songwriting perfection. A few of the slower, softer rock ballads on the album such as “Talk It Over,” “Wedding Ring,” and “St. Christopher” didn’t do it for me, though. Still the textural richness of the album has me thinking that they will grow on me with time.
FEATURED TRACK:
“Arms Forest”
Light In The Attic’s second reissue from Rodriguez, 1971’s Coming from Reality
was the last released output by the artist before he slipped into obscurity. Where its predecessor Cold Fact
succeeded in creating a subversive sound thanks to Rodriguez’s dark personality and some interesting sonic experimentation in the studio, Coming From Reality departs unabashedly for straightforward pop territory. Thing is, these sleepier, backed-with-strings songs like “Silver Words?” and “It Started Out So Nice” dominate the record, and lack Rodriguez’s certain je ne sais quoi– it’s understandable, after all, why Rodriguez disappeared after this record. But that’s not to say Reality is a total flop by any means, though. There are plenty of reasons to check out this album anyway; the groovy “Climb Up On My Music” and flawless “Can’t Get Away” (one of several rerelease-only tracks included) are among Rodriguez’s very finest. Let’s hope that this isn’t Rodriguez’s last stand.
Featured Track:
“Heikki’s Suburbia Bus Tour”
Catch Rodriguez at The Magic Stick this Saturday, May 9th
I gave Valentiger’s Power Lines to Electric Times a first listen while out on the highway to Chicago, an appropriate backdrop such a soundtrack. At the forefront of the band’s music are the familiar traits of Americana– strumming acoustic guitars, prominent harmonica, some haunting pedal steel– but the young group add experimental aspects their sound, too; credited instruments also include a bell set, a broom, and a typewriter. For the most part, though, rock n’ rollers like “Leaving Town” and “The Girl That Everyone Forgot” break way for more introspective songs like “Man On Fire” and “Under The Gun”, but the record as a whole elicits the same airy, wintry aspects of being on the road in the band’s native western side of the state.
FEATURED TRACK:
“Leaving Town”
Not only one of Detroit’s favorite pastimes for decades, Copper Thieves are also a side project featuring members of New Grenada and Child Bite. Does their moniker comes from the fact that, like copper thieves, they scrap the past for usable parts, some organ riffs here, some mall-punk vocals there? Their debut From Way Out to Way Under falls somewhere between the sum of their parts, a safe distance between New Grenada’s power pop and Child Bite’s balls-out jams. The songs’ riffs are at once bouncy and heavy, if recycled– “Carribean” is a candy-coated take on dying in a plane crash, and “Silverdome” makes way for a bridge that sounds as if it must have been written with high hopes of one day rocking its arena namesake. Easy contender for album highlight “The Fight” borders on fist-pumping, anthemic pop-punk: “Last night we were alone I thought about having a fight/ they’ll find us out in a parking lot/ one of us standing alive”. Beating the shit out of someone has never sounded more fun.
FEATURED TRACK:
“The Fight”
You can download Copper Thieves’ From Way Out to Way Under for free here.
Noman first caught our eye while doing Blowout research based on the strength of their MySpace songs, and the rest of their debut Broadcast doesn’t disappoint. Recorded with Steve Albini, the album has an explosive, acoustic-punk sound, calling to mind equal parts Fugazi and Bright Eyes. Noman’s debt to Ian McKaye is apparent in throaty lyrics like, “wanna breathe smoke but not from a cigarette in my mouth/ want these lungs to be strong, they can make shotgun sounds”. But the band augment this template with plenty of their own experiences: there’s references to being broke in a house in the Woodbridge neighborhood, spreading ashes on Belle Isle, assuming the thoughts of a homeless man on Trumbull and I-94. The record is steeped in the melancholy that comes with living with Rustbelt decay, but also anthemic: the band never relents with its passionate delivery, which ultimately makes Noman’s disc fun and destined to be sung along to in punk dives.
Featured Track:
“For The Rock Gods”
Noman kick off a tour with I, Crime at the Lager House on April 15th, 2009.
The Dogs – Free Write I should point out that this album is completely free via The Dogs website. The Review:
