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Feb 2nd, 2010 - 13:42:13 |
You Better Stop, Look Around
Green Day
21st Century Breakdown
Reprise
How does one type the sound they make when they are vomiting? (Blech? Ralph?) What’s AP Style’s opinion on the subject matter? No entry for it? Damn. I guess I’ll have to write the entry for the handbook because Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown is, perhaps, the most atrocious things that's ever been thrown down under the banner of the East Bay, California band’s name.
To say such a thing is like admitting that Green Day’s missteps throughout their career have been mere potholes compared to the crater left behind by its latest and seventh album. I can live with that. We would have to forget about the pure pop magic/sophomoric nature of their early releases on Lookout Records, take heed in not recalling Dookie’s legendary status and the catcalls of “sell out.” We’d forgive for what was to come ahead on Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning. American Idiot, by no means is the world’s first rock opera, but was certainly heralded as one, but didn't meet the standards set by The Who and Queen. Yet, even when all of these baby punches are combined, they don’t come close to the Tyson-eque sucker punch that is 21st Century Breakdown.
In regards to the music that populates 21st Century Breakdown, one can’t help but feel that it's all a little forced. Here we are five years post-American Idiot, one of the biggest albums of said year, and the band is expected to release another monster record like Dookie. What would you do? I guess my own instincts would say to continue on the path that you have followed throughout your career, but when one is seven albums deep, how are you supposed to come up with fresh material? Guitarist/Vocalist/Songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong seems to struggle with this very ideal on this album.
The first single “Know Your Enemy” could very well be a leftover from American Idiot as it would fit easily in between “American Idiot” and “Holiday." Although, in the end, it’s nothing more than typical Green Day. On “Hearts Collide,” the track sounds like Del Shannon and Dion were generous enough to ghostwrite a song for the band. Yet, it’s just another four-chord rehash with a stock rockabilly solo and fluffy reverb. “East Jesus Nowhere,” aside from it’s appalling title, is meant to be a rallying call, gang chorus sing-along, but ultimately falls apart as it sounds like the aforementioned, “Holiday,” but a tad slower. While there is no way to copyright a chord progression or melody, “21 Guns” is an absolute rip-off of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold,” while the chorus is almost note for note the melody to “All The Young Dudes.”
I struggle with taking anything about 21st Century Breakdown seriously. From the faux-Banksy or Blek Le Rat stencil artwork and the cheesy song titles to the religious undertones and rehashed sound, this just doesn’t work. To me, the Green Day train seems to have stalled at the station for the very last time. — ERIC ALLEN
The Dudes Abide
The High Strung
Ode to the Inverse of the Dude
Park The Van
The Detroit trio, The High Strung’s past penchant for slightly spastic (but tight) run-arounds and motor-away rock were molded and tweaked for their fifth LP, by producer David Newfeld, the man who massaged all the shimmering clamber of similarly situated hard-driving/groove-heavy indie-rockers Broken Social Scene. For a band who’s pigeonholed as the non-stop-tour-band, or the library-tour-band, this is the album that is rapt with expressiveness. Not only is Ode the album where they open up lyrically, but, where they bolster their sound such that it becomes a dual declaration, not just of personality but also talent, taste and ability. Going from the more spastic pop of the past into the more cerebral, complex instrumental constructions, they somehow also top their characteristic (and unheralded) heart that shone through their past works. Check out touching stripped down acoustic ballads like “I Got Your Back,” or “The Middle” (“We both work all time, let’s try and meet in the middle / we were born, we will die, but we’ve met in the middle”), combined with the hazy, smooth and psychedelic wanderer of “House Party.” Wavy, rhythmic and spaced-out at times, yet somehow hitting closer to the heart (and the gut) than they ever have before. — JEFF MILO
The Cool Kids
Gone Fishing (Mixtape)
Don Cannon/Cake Recordings
While one could do without Don Cannon dropping his name every 30 seconds, Gone Fishing proves The Cool Kids are no joke. The idea that the duo is nothing more than “hipster rap” insinuates they lack talent, but it’s clear that their depth goes far beyond their glasses and chains. “You heard what they did to that squid at that party / had these hammerhead sharks turned ‘em into calamari” lyrically sticks out from the intro, but the minimal drum and bass on “Cinnamon” and “Jump Rope” make this record much more than a mixtape. — ERIC ALLEN
The Monks
Black Monk Time
Light In The Attic Records
If you don’t like this album, you probably don’t like yourself. Recorded in ’65, released in ’66, The Monks recorded what can only be described as a sloppy, schizophrenic precursor to the pop-coated punk rock, that garages had yet to see (and The Black Lips tirelessly imitate). The Monks’ rambling and loose lyrical content bleeds into the realms of politics, romance and pure insanity at the drop of a dime, which adds to the excitement of the lo-fi sound that has never stolen the scene, but continues to grow in admiration by those that do like themselves. — RYAN PATRICK HOOPER
in my ear
Bootsey X and the Lovemasters
Bootsey X has been in a million bands, drank a million beers and destroyed a million stages. Fronting his own group, the Lovemasters, the singer is delivering a powerful stage performance that'd beat the pants off Iggy, if he was even wearing any. Bootsey plays Corktown Tavern on May 21, but till then check out what he's been listening too:
Tegan and Sara
So Jealous
Jesus and the Mary Chain
Dark Lands
Hank Williams Sr.
I Saw The Light
James Brown
Foundations of Funk
Various Artists
Performance
The Stooges
Fun House
Guns 'n' Roses
"Patience"
Alice Cooper
"Public Animal #9"
Laura Lee
"Rip Off"
Nine Inch Nails
"Head Like A Hole"
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