Tiger! Tiger! "The Kind of Goodnight" Chicken Ranch Records Sounds like: Something you'd want to see performed live. Grade: B
Tiger! Tiger!'s new album "The Kind of Goodnight" sounds like what a garage band's album is supposed to sound like. Only in this case, you might have to rediscover your hidden love of pop to experience the full effect.
This is the kind of record that will have you bopping to and fro before you've had the chance to realize what has happened. You'll be left puzzled as to why, after one full listen, you're already singing along with the second track, "The First Thing" and impressed to know The Clash hadn't written it.
Much like The Clash, if there's one thing that has the potential to turn listeners off, it might very well be vocalist/guitarist Buffi Aguero's singing style. Her lyrics are witty and her melodies are enormously catchy, but she seems to have gotten happy with one style of delivery and tries, awkwardly at points, to apply this method across the board.
But this Atlanta quintet even has something to offer if vinyl-worthy garage rock is not your thing. "Two by Two," the album's fourth track, builds fantastic blues-y tension from its central lounge rock theme. The final track, "Substantial Difference," proves this band can throw some good old rock 'n' roll into their repertoire. "The Kind of Goodnight" is worth giving a shot. Don't be surprised when your foot starts tapping.
-ROB NATALE
Future of the Left "Curses" Too Pure Records Sounds like: God-awful Grade: D-
If peculiar was their intended sound, then Future of the Left has hit the nail directly on the head. "Curses," the band's latest work, broaches many distinct forms in the musical spectrum in a matter of seconds but comes nowhere near the realm of accessibility. The band self-describes their sound as having "bass lines that impact like a deft flurry of feet, like being kicked to death by the cast of Riverdance." That should tell you all you need to know.
Even the songs that could fool you into thinking they are catchy are overwhelmed by obtuse lyrics to the point where it is difficult to tell whether or not this band is yanking your chain. Just look at some of the album's obscure track names. The penultimate "adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood" speaks for itself.
The further into the album you get, the more bewildered you will become. "Kept By Bees" is nothing more than a poorly constructed Irish hymn set to an unsuitable fat beat, and then, without warning, "Small Bones Small Bodies" attacks with screaming heavy metal. "Wrigley Scott" was a lost cause as soon as its chorus began to advocate "sausage on a stick" with angst. "Why put the body where the body don't want to go?" asks the album's second track, "Plague of Onces." To say this album is worth any sort of effort would be like saying that Hillary Clinton is a black man.
-R.N.
