I’ve followed the career of Tom Delonge ever since he extracted all of the talent from Blink 182 and went his own way. I enjoyed his first side project, Boxcar Racer, and would call myself a fan of his latest band Angels & Airwaves. When DeLonge got married and had kids it didn’t bother me either because I knew this guy was determined to make the big planetarium rock that would fit in a John Hughes teen drama. Angels & Airwaves is like “Salisbury Hill” with better guitar. And the newly minted family man DeLonge was bound to hit some themes I could get into.
Angels & Airwaves is starry sky rock at its best and when Tom has the guitars frothing at the mouth it can be pure bliss. Angels & Airwaves make the sort of music that scares the crap out of you when you turn on your car because you can’t believe how loud you let it get the last time you were in there. The trouble with Angels & Airwaves is Tom seems to have lost his ability to taper the music. He’s become indulgent and perhaps a bit out of touch. The music sounds like it comes from a guy who has a studio in his house and doesn’t have to answer to anyone –there’s no fit or finish. Case in point “True Love” is a nifty little song that takes two minutes just to get going.
Many of the songs on I-Empire include two-minute intros and lots of meandering guitar twinkle. If I was playing a video game and this was the score-it’d be fine. But I’m not. I bought an album and I expect the songs to have a little more discipline.
DeLonge always has killer pedals going on his guitar. The opener “Call to Arms” is classic, cinematic Angels & Airwaves and a good way to start. Track two “Everything’s Magic” adds some sound effects and a little pace to take us closer to a single.
A big problem with I-Empire is the first three tracks don’t bring much to the cake mix. It’s mostly whiney vocal, sound effects, and just a tease of guitar. “Breathe” has some cool 1980’s drum effect, but it sounds too unfinished.
“Love Like Rockets” starts the countdown as we hear the familiar walkie-talkie crackle and get closer to what makes Angels & Airwaves one of my favorite new bands. When DeLonge gets the guitar going like a helicopter, Angels & Airwaves music can have all the drama of Cape Canaveral. “Love Like Rockets” should get points for the title alone and is a fun little song. It sounds like the sort of thing you’d want playing on a hot summer night in a convertible. “The stars in your eyes light up the skies” chorus even has a little Bono thing going on. Angels & Airwaves has a heavy U2 influence from DeLonge’s guitar to the “oh ay oh” sing-a-long choruses.
But unlike the last Angels & Airwaves record We Don’t Need to Whisper which gave us “The Adventure,” “The War (theme from MTV’s Two-A-Days),” and “Distraction” –the only must have track off I-Empire is “Secret Crowds.” After a somewhat needless thirty-second intro, “Secret Crowds” leaves the atmosphere on the back of DeLonge’s power chords. This is a massive pump up song for your collection. “Secret Crowds” is straight up black t-shirt rock. The core idea of the album is here as DeLonge talks about his I-Empire (“If I had my own world”) where he world “spread love like violence.” And the “Let me feel you carry you higher . . .secret crowds rise up and gather” even has a little “We Will Rock You” beat that had me banging the roof of the Wrangler. This is the sort of song Jack Black’s character would have broke a piece of chalk telling the kids about in School of Rock. It’s simply that good.
Trouble is there isn’t much else here on I-Empire. “Secret Crowds” craps bigger than the rest of the record. Overall I worry about Angels & Airwaves. The music is so out of touch that I think DeLonge might be fading. We’ve reached the true fan-stage of his career. The hardcore like myself will be able to pull a great song out of every album, and not much more. And until Delonge hooks up with some other talent I don’t see much more happening. But with the right supporting cast DeLonge could make a big dent on the scene. Selfishly I’d love to see Delonge get picked up in some sort of rock and roll super group in the spirit of Audioslave and Velvet Revolver for his guitar and his mind. The man gets music. Otherwise he’ll just make six-minute songs like “Heaven” which sound like the distortion pedal version of a guy watching his life projected in Super 8 on the wall in the dark.
“Lifeline” is an interesting song if for no other reason that it makes the best use of DeLonge’s eternally 17 angst ridden vocal and pulls it across a nice wingspan. “If you wish it wish it now. If you wish it wish it loud” and the familiar “yo oh oh oh” anthem is solid. “Rite of Spring” starts out like a Poison guitar riff but ultimately disappoints as the glam is quickly replaced with melancholy. But it is a nice personal story and his “chance for a better life” gives a glimpse of a genuine nice guy in rock and roll.
The Target version of the CD comes with two bonus tracks including an acoustic version of Angel & Airwaves first hit “The Adventure.” It’s painful to listen to and I can’t imagine how this version made it onto the record. My only explanation is someone has Punk’d DeLonge. All it does is reinforce how much help DeLonge needs with his vocal in post-production because the raw track sounds horrible. It’s like tone deaf Violent Femmes, it’s truly awful stuff.
In summary, I’m a fan of Mr. Delonge. His music makes music videos in my head. But if the man doesn’t get some help I worry that’s about as far as Angels & Airwaves will go.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
I’ll take $10 on Band of Horses to Show.
As it turns out the band I was hearing good things about was Iron & Wine, not Band of Horses. But I stuck with the BOH review assuming it was akin to accidentally betting on the wrong horse at the track. When that happens you never, ever take the ticket back to the counter. You roll with the destiny.
Funny thing happened, my ticket was a winner. I like Band of Horses. I don’t love them. I’m not running around telling people to buy them or adding icons to my facebook page. But BOH has a nice little sound about them.
When I explained to a buddy here at work that I was accidentally reviewing BOH he assured me I would like them. Turns out he had an Amazon box on his desk with the same Cease to Begin CD. He described BOH’s sound as Southern, more specifically “Southern dudes with beards” ⎯which is never wrong.
This was all starting to sound promising. For starters my music was going back into the barrel, A lot of my favorite music is a little gamey, has a little woods in it, you need to check for bones before you consumer—Kings of Leon had that in spades and sadly seem to have gone away from it a bit recently.
The first track on Cease to Begin “Is There a Ghost.” reminds me a bit of “MLK” from U2. Even though it clocks in at nearly 3 minutes it’s not as much a song as it is a sleepy time vibe. But to their credit, it’s a nice album opener with a little rock guitar thump and an introduction to lead vocalist Ben Bridwell’s pretty voice.
One of the things I found a bit distracting about BOH was going from “Southern guys with beards” to the lovely vocal of Bridwell. I mean this guy doesn’t sound like a cowboy he sounds like the “you sure got a purdy mouth” guy the cowboys would want to share a cell with.
Track two “Ode to LRC” had me worried. The album was starting to sound like everything and nothing. This track reminds me of bands like Athlete that get the critics all excited and when you listed to them it’s just a good solid C+. Personally I’d rather listen to the best or the worst, the middle is what really hurts your ears and wastes your time.
Recovery was one song away with “No One’s Gonna Love You” where the boys got to me. “No One’s Gonna Love You” is a song about the phantom pains of love feeling like “a limb torn off.” You can hear the hurt in his voice as Bridwell goes out of his way to say “no one is ever going to love you like I do” to someone who has clearly moved on. “No One’s Gonna Love You” has a haunting effect as Bridwell pens one more love letter to the “ghost of what once was.” This one has all the moodiness it needs to toss it on top of the last 5 minutes of a Grey’s Anatomy episode.
I’m always going to be a sucker for the wind chime twinkle of a guitar because I grew up worshipping the Edge and U2. Band of Horses have some guitar chops featuring a guitar instrumental “Lamb on the Lam (In the City).” Bridwell’s vocal grew on me as well as at times he has a little Perry Farrell and he’s a real singer-which I appreciate.
Overall Band of Horses make lovely like the bell choir visiting your church around Christmas. What BOH lack in Adam’s apple grit, they make up for in gorgeous melody. The music tends to be a little bit too shoe gazer sleepy for my liking as it sort of wants to fade into a starry sky. But I think the band is capable of more. They have the guitar chops, but I’d like to see a little less twinkle twinkle and a little more asteroid coming from him.
Where BOH really won me over was by putting the belt buckle on and showing their range on “The General Specific” and “Marry Song.” “The General Specific” is a saloon stomp and a hot little song. It’s odd in sort of White Stripes way, at times sounding like a different band. The guitar is gone replaced with piano and a strong bass buzz. The eyes are no longer on the floor, and the feet are tapping. Bridwell’s voice changes, but it doesn’t sound forced. It’s almost as if the boys from South Carolina wanted to show us they could do it just to check the box. “Marry Song” is whiney whiskey country at its best. The sort of southern fried country that makes you want to drink until the sun hurts your eyes the next morning. It’s not for everyone, but if you like a good Western movie you’ll likely enjoy this 3:23 seat next to the organ. The keyboard work is key to both of these departure songs. Is there anything better than the sound of rock guys singing country?!
In short Band of Horses’ Cease to Begin ranks ahead of many other critical darlings (Interpol, Radiohead) I’ve reviewed in this space. I’d keep my eye on them. If they can stop counting sheep and get some of the music out of the evening and into the morning or afternoon—I think they could stick around for a while. I think they have too much personality not to do something interesting. Any band who can write a gorgeous ballad and name it “Detlef Schrempf” after the former 7’ awkward pasty German white basketball star has to be capable of making their mark.
Funny thing happened, my ticket was a winner. I like Band of Horses. I don’t love them. I’m not running around telling people to buy them or adding icons to my facebook page. But BOH has a nice little sound about them.
When I explained to a buddy here at work that I was accidentally reviewing BOH he assured me I would like them. Turns out he had an Amazon box on his desk with the same Cease to Begin CD. He described BOH’s sound as Southern, more specifically “Southern dudes with beards” ⎯which is never wrong.
This was all starting to sound promising. For starters my music was going back into the barrel, A lot of my favorite music is a little gamey, has a little woods in it, you need to check for bones before you consumer—Kings of Leon had that in spades and sadly seem to have gone away from it a bit recently.
The first track on Cease to Begin “Is There a Ghost.” reminds me a bit of “MLK” from U2. Even though it clocks in at nearly 3 minutes it’s not as much a song as it is a sleepy time vibe. But to their credit, it’s a nice album opener with a little rock guitar thump and an introduction to lead vocalist Ben Bridwell’s pretty voice.
One of the things I found a bit distracting about BOH was going from “Southern guys with beards” to the lovely vocal of Bridwell. I mean this guy doesn’t sound like a cowboy he sounds like the “you sure got a purdy mouth” guy the cowboys would want to share a cell with.
Track two “Ode to LRC” had me worried. The album was starting to sound like everything and nothing. This track reminds me of bands like Athlete that get the critics all excited and when you listed to them it’s just a good solid C+. Personally I’d rather listen to the best or the worst, the middle is what really hurts your ears and wastes your time.
Recovery was one song away with “No One’s Gonna Love You” where the boys got to me. “No One’s Gonna Love You” is a song about the phantom pains of love feeling like “a limb torn off.” You can hear the hurt in his voice as Bridwell goes out of his way to say “no one is ever going to love you like I do” to someone who has clearly moved on. “No One’s Gonna Love You” has a haunting effect as Bridwell pens one more love letter to the “ghost of what once was.” This one has all the moodiness it needs to toss it on top of the last 5 minutes of a Grey’s Anatomy episode.
I’m always going to be a sucker for the wind chime twinkle of a guitar because I grew up worshipping the Edge and U2. Band of Horses have some guitar chops featuring a guitar instrumental “Lamb on the Lam (In the City).” Bridwell’s vocal grew on me as well as at times he has a little Perry Farrell and he’s a real singer-which I appreciate.
Overall Band of Horses make lovely like the bell choir visiting your church around Christmas. What BOH lack in Adam’s apple grit, they make up for in gorgeous melody. The music tends to be a little bit too shoe gazer sleepy for my liking as it sort of wants to fade into a starry sky. But I think the band is capable of more. They have the guitar chops, but I’d like to see a little less twinkle twinkle and a little more asteroid coming from him.
Where BOH really won me over was by putting the belt buckle on and showing their range on “The General Specific” and “Marry Song.” “The General Specific” is a saloon stomp and a hot little song. It’s odd in sort of White Stripes way, at times sounding like a different band. The guitar is gone replaced with piano and a strong bass buzz. The eyes are no longer on the floor, and the feet are tapping. Bridwell’s voice changes, but it doesn’t sound forced. It’s almost as if the boys from South Carolina wanted to show us they could do it just to check the box. “Marry Song” is whiney whiskey country at its best. The sort of southern fried country that makes you want to drink until the sun hurts your eyes the next morning. It’s not for everyone, but if you like a good Western movie you’ll likely enjoy this 3:23 seat next to the organ. The keyboard work is key to both of these departure songs. Is there anything better than the sound of rock guys singing country?!
In short Band of Horses’ Cease to Begin ranks ahead of many other critical darlings (Interpol, Radiohead) I’ve reviewed in this space. I’d keep my eye on them. If they can stop counting sheep and get some of the music out of the evening and into the morning or afternoon—I think they could stick around for a while. I think they have too much personality not to do something interesting. Any band who can write a gorgeous ballad and name it “Detlef Schrempf” after the former 7’ awkward pasty German white basketball star has to be capable of making their mark.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)