Favourite Sons "Down Beside Your Beauty" (Vice) Sounds Like: The Stooges play boring alternative in a retirement home. Grade: C-
"Down Beside Your Beauty" is the debut release from the Los Angeles-based group Favourite Sons. While a valiant effort, the album proves to be nothing more than a showcase for unoriginal Iggy Pop-like vocals.
Tracks like "Down Beside Your Beauty" and "When You're Away From Me" conjure up terrible visions of an old man sitting at a bar complaining about lost love. With the lyrics an obvious low point for the band, one would think the music would at least be original. Sadly, it sounds like every other '90s-inspired indie rock band. Acoustic guitars playing the same four power chords with a trace of slide guitar do nothing to add to the credibility of this album.
The album though seems to at least do some good in tracks like "Round Here" and "Pistols and Girls." With those aside, we are left with songs about chest pains like "Rise Up." With not a single original bone in their body, Favourite Sons seem doomed to a career of anonymity.
-CHRIS MORENO
Grizzly Bear "Yellow House" (Warp) Sounds like: Heaping layers of folky goodness. Grade: B+
Improving by leaps and bounds over their last album, Grizzly Bear's "Yellow House" appears to be one of the most fragile and beautiful records of the year. No longer just the work of singer/songwriter Edward Droste, Grizzly Bear is the efforts of a foursome, and the use of a full band has added a level of depth nonexistent on their first album, "Horn of Plenty."
One listen and the inevitable comparison will be to Animal Collective. While there is a similarity in sound, there is more of a parallel in the two groups' aesthetics. The album's centerpiece, "Lullabye," begins as a simple, acoustic guitar-driven song. As more harmonies join the lead vocals, the music also begins to swell into a hot air balloon of sound. As those notes join the fray, it seems as if the song will overflow with ideas. But before it goes over the edge, Grizzly Bear quietly restrains itself, and the song is brought to resolution.
Grizzly Bear succeeds by taking the idea of layering sounds upon sounds popularized by Brian Wilson 40 years ago and playing with the conventions of his design. By building a wall of sound one minute and bringing in the wrecking ball the next, the band has created an aberration in a too-dull musical landscape.
-DREW ROSENSWEIG
Junior Boys "So This is Goodbye" (Domino) Sounds like: Sexy yet downer electro-pop. Grade: B
Ah, electro-pop. It is truly one of the most beautiful inventions in the world, after table tennis and Raven Simone. Two years ago, Junior Boys and their debut album "Last Exit" carved a niche in the electro-pop world, one that came with a playful '80s attitude. Fast forward to "So This is Goodbye," which proves to be a more mature effort, for better or worse.
Junior Boys' sound is a mishmash of a few decades. The instruments sound Reagan-era, but the vocals are processed beautifully and cleanly like most of today's best techno acts. "So This is Goodbye" is shrouded in moodiness, opting to stick to slow tempos and meandering synthesizer lines. While this theme of loneliness adds a unifying element, the album lacks variety.
"Count Souvenirs" and "Double Shadow" are perfectly fashioned songs, dark and sensual grooves perfect for amorous couples. But many of the songs, especially during the second half of the album, seem to be one long electronic downer.
Luckily, there are a few reprieves from the murky depths of most of the album. The first single, "In The Morning," is a flat-out champion: a slow grinder that is easily one of the sexiest songs this century has heard.
On this effort, the group has exchanged making a funky album for a more "adult" sound. Maybe Junior Boys have forgotten that even adults like to get down every once and awhile.
-D.R.
Greg Laswell "Through Toledo" (Vanguard) Sounds like: A less lame version of an injured John Ondrasik trying to put on a brave face. Grade: B-
"Through Toledo" doesn't stray too far from the indie-pop sounds of Greg Laswell's first release, "Good Movie." Laswell's innate sense of melodic simplicity and catchy choruses remain, but his lyrics have found a different, more sullen, path. "Through Toledo" takes us to the misery that Laswell experienced when his wife suddenly left him.
"Sing, Theresa Says" and "Do What I Can" show that Laswell manages songwriting that is extremely accessible, but also distinctive. This is probably owed to the fact that he played and produced almost every instrument on the album.
A feeling of nostalgia infects the veins of the album. The tunes "High and Low" and "Your Melody" sound foggy and muted, like a flashback or memory.
Though the songwriting is more than decent, the album suffers from overproductionitis. On songs like "Amazing," "Worthwhile" and "I'm Hit," superfluous distortion and thick vocal filters are distracting. Lyrically, the album is very morose, but perky percussion and mish-mashed vocal harmonies often clog the space that should be occupied by Laswell's sentiments.
-ASHA TAMIRISA
Fergie "The Dutchess," (Interscope) Sounds like: Somewhere between Missy Elliot and Charo is Groove City, population Fergie. Grade: B
When Jennifer Lopez hung up her booty shorts on the set of "In Living Color" and started a film career, she created opportunities for fly girls everywhere to go solo. Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson has taken that first step toward a solo career, and her first step away from the Black Eyed Peas, with her debut album, "The Dutchess."
With musical nods to the Temptations, Missy Elliot and ska-punk, "The Dutchess" is all over the place in the best ways possible. Rather than weighing down the album with bassy, booty-shaking club anthems (of which there are a few), Fergie stretches her vocal range and shows some depth with the more soulful tracks.
There are some obvious singles on the record. "London Bridge" is already in heavy rotation and "Fergalicious" will probably have the same success.
There are a few high points on this record: Ludacris' guest rhyme on "Glamorous," the ska-punk breakdown on the reggae ballad "Mary Jane Shoes" and the hilariously extravagant, Meatloaf-esque string section on "Finally."
Lyrically, Fergie is pretty ridiculous. From soulful ballads ("I'm going to miss you like a child misses their blanket,") to club jams ("I'm such a lady but I'm dancing like a ho,") it is clear she still needs some work. Even after the second listen, this reviewer still isn't exactly sure what it means that her "London Bridge is falling down."
- JEFF LAMBERT
