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July Music Reviews
Gavin Rossdale It must be so weird and odd for someone who was such a rock star to be dissolved to most people knowing you as Gwen Stefani’s husband. Gavin Rossdale once ruled the rock world with the uber-radio friendly Bush before pushing himself to solo work and acting (e.g., Constantine). Now Rossdale is back trying to grab the spotlight for his radio friendly rock once again. Rossdale’s voice might have worked great in the post-grunge sound, but now it is mostly crap and ordinary. It is not bad when Rossdale just sings and doesn’t try to put a cadre of inflections on every word like each word is the most important ever written or said. The first single off of Wanderlust “Love Remains the Same” is a slow, soft ballad that has already been featured on CBS’ Moonlight; and such placements in shows such as Grey’s Anatomy are not out of the question. If you want relive your Bush days with a more mature sound then Wanderlust is perfect for you.
Glowworm Out of hot music HQ of Portland comes the ambient electronic duo Kevin Davis and Jesse Robert of Glowworm. Fixating on mild tempo soundscapes that can both clear the night sky and quicken your pulse, the Coachlight Woods moves smartly along with only a few hiccups on eclectically bad songs like “Lux” and Nightshores.” But others like opener “Periphescence,” “Cracks in the Desert Seas of St. George,” and the excellent “Contrails” warm you up for a good night. There is a lot to like about Glowworm and a band to keep an eye on in the future.
Rodney Parker & Fifty Peso Reward The Lonesome Dirge has some unbelievable brilliant songs that make you question why the hell Rodney Parker & Fifty Peso Reward haven’t rocked into your musical consciousness a whole lot early. It may be that for every amazing song, there is another that is commonplace and amateurish at best. This Denton, TX-based five-piece rock out to Americana country that merges between indie hip and lacking in unfortunate ways. Essentially, when RP and 50 offer ballads and moderate-tempo songs, the quality and appeal drop like a weight. The correcting contrast comes from a collection of up-tempo rockers that get you moving like no one’s business and helps restore your faith in local American music. Foremost amongst the songs to swear allegiance is the opener “Firefight.” “Firefight” sounds like RP and 50 took all the best elements of Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros “Johnny Appleseed” and made it a simple brawler. You should put “Firefight” on repeat and rock out. While no others on The Lonesome Dirge come close to this excellence, you should check out the builder “Atlantic City,” “I’m Never Getting Married,” and “Tell Me What It Is.” There are some great elements to Rodney Parker & Fifty Peso Reward, and let’s hope for the excellence to shine through in further efforts.
The Duke Spirit Like many others from their isle in the Atlantic, the Duke Spirit take 80s dirty rock and punch it full of pop, intensity, and attractiveness. On face value, the Duke Spirit look like the spitting image of the Sounds – a hot blond frontwoman and a gaggle of thin dark-haired musicians. Yet, on sound value there is very little in common with the Sounds, save for a penchant of making compelling music. If the Duke Spirit don’t grab you with their first real song “Send a Little Love Token” on Neptune, the dirty fuzz 60s pop rock of “The Step and the Walk” will certainly make you a fan. There are some shoegazing happening – e.g., “Dog Roses” and “Wooden Heart” – but, the DS also rock your ass with smokers like “Into the Fold,” the Sonic Youth riffing “You Really Wake Up the Love In Me,” “Neptune’s Call,” and “My Sunken Treasure.” The Duke Spirit are a fun band to get into.
The Wombats This six-song EP functions as a teaser of sorts for this hot indie pop punk band from Liverpool. As a precursor to their full-length A Guide to Love, Loss, & Desperation, the songs here encompass the band’s central singles including “Kill the Director” and “Moving to New York.” Playing the quintessential dancey indie punk that’s become more of the norm over the past few years (most obviously with Bloc Party), but still is remarkably attractive, the Wombats have hotness stamped all over them. Besides from the aforementioned songs, the sweetest smoking number is by far “Backfire at the Disco” that is three-plus minutes of joy. The final track of the EP is CSS doing a remix of “Kill the Director” and the magic is in full flying unicorn.
Weezer With Rivers Cuomo done with Harvard a few years ago, Weezer has been going through a productive streak, putting a few albums over the past couple of years. This now third self-titled, referred to as the Red Album, features Weezer moving away from pure power pop rock songs with splashes of indie rock and towards standard, ordinary rock band shtick. Part of the surprising shift is that Cuomo allows other members of Weezer to lead songs that they’ve written. Shocking!!! Perhaps more democratic, there are large negative effects as those songs absolutely suck – e.g., “Automatic,” “Thought I Knew,” and “Cold Dark World.” Even with Rick Rubin as producer, the Red Album falls apart at the seams when you are searching for songs to jump and down to you. It is massively ironic that the first single “Pork and Beans,” and its funny ass video, was written as a response to DGC executives who didn’t think the first version of the album had any ‘hits.’ When listening to the lyrics it is obvious that Rivers is frustrated with the bs and he wrote to show them he can do it such songs but chooses not to. The problem is that “Pork and Beans” is by far the best song here. The only others to get traction are opener “Troublemaker,” “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived,” “Heart Songs,” and “Dreamin’.” The Red Album is shockingly bad for a songwriting master like Rivers Cuomo.
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