Porter Block – Off Our Shoulders (Engine Room recordings)
Somehow the duo of Porter Block has finagled a whole bunch of positive press from the Washington Post (“catchy melodies and buoyant harmonies”) to Performing Songwriter (“[their music] is what rock ‘n roll is all about”) and places in-between. They also have somehow managed to make an album which while it is catchy at times is pretty darn unimpressive. Average lyrics sung by a guy whose picture should be in the dictionary under self-absorbed douche bag. I get it, you meet ladies and then love and broken hearts and such, etc. Hand-crafted for folks who don’t listen to lyrics, like their ‘rock’ stars sensitive and are completely comfortable listening to music which will neither inspire them nor make any lasting impression on them. This is the poor man’s version of rock and roll.
Let Me Run – s/t EP (Self-released)
Usually a burned CD with a paper homemade case denotes beginners musically, or at the very least a really poor group of punk rockers. Let Me Run has officially shattered this stereotype of mine. This three song EP is more professionally recorded than many albums I’ve purchased recently and the songwriting and lyrics are pretty excellent. It may not be remarkably original; it’s definitely got traces of all sorts of other bands (most impressively the occasional Ian McKaye Fugazi years vocals and CIV like guitars at times). The lyrics read more like poetry and yet not in the “look at how smart” we are kind of way, very emotional and thoughtful, but certainly not emo music. If in three years these characters aren’t all over the place some record label is making a mistake.
New Found Glory – Tip of the Iceberg EP (Bridge Nine) B/W
International Superheroes of Hardcore – Takin’ it Ova’ LP (Bridge Nine)
Wow. Who would have thought that a band could imitate another genre and actually be better than they were when they took themselves seriously? Sure, New Found Glory is one of the more successful pop punk bands but they are still a pop punk band, and that can’t be forgiven but I’ll be damned if they didn’t just kick my ass with their other incarnation, The International Superheroes of Hardcore. Sure, they are mocking hardcore but it’s done in the same loving way that Hard Skin mocked Oi! Music. And damnit a song about how you need to wear your seat belt with a chorus of “Seat Belt, Never Forget, Never Forget your Seat Belt!” is pure comic genius – I can just see some meathead hardcore kid pumping his fists with his local high school football team shirt on to that not even understanding the joke. “There’s not a wardrobe for hardcore, I mean look at us, we wear capes”. That is fucking genius.
Shin Jin Rui – Zutiqua (Ex Libris Records)
This CD is a sixteen song anomaly as the vocals remain almost entirely the same (very much in the vein of late 70’s punk – think Eugene Reynolds of the Rezillos) throughout, which is delightful, but the music morphs from straight up 70’s punk, to weird goth-y sad-sack tunes, to completely hammered-while-writing-it sounding acoustic rock. It’s been called surfer punk and ‘cool as fuck’ by other media outlets, and sure, the acoustically painful “Kill Your Heart” IS cool as fuck, and there are some hints of surfer style on here, it’s more just a punk record with a guy who either arrived 25 years too late, or couldn’t find a band to front that would fit his style just right.
Tim Lee Three – good2b3 (the paisley pop label)
With 24 albums under his belt, Tim Lee convinced his wife to join him and drummer Rodney Cash to help him make number 25, and boy did it sort of pay off. After fronting the Windbreakers and doing a whole bunch of collaborations with folks who are IN big bands (not necessarily the big names though), seems like Tim just wanted a little more freedom to make an album of music that sounds just like the house band in a small Midwestern town’s most popular dive bar. Sure, maybe that’s your bag, get home from working at ___________ (insert soul crushing job here) and once you get the __________ (significant other) off your back, you call up the ________ (friends) and mosey on over to Joe’s where bluesy rock local heroes the Tim Lee 3 are playing. A voice very mildly reminiscent of Mick Jagger, guitars mildly reminiscent of Skynrd or Tom Petty, back up vocals mildly reminiscent of high school chorus, this album is loaded to the brim with average rock and roll. If that’s your bag, they do a hell of a job at it, keeping it plain and simple, in both music and lyrics. As Tim Lee even says, “Don’t like it dumb, but I don’t like it too smart.”
(Damn) This Desert Air – EP 1 (self-released)
For a band that immediately wants you to know their influences are Cave In and Failure, they shouldn’t sound so much like early-Tool mixed with Any-Band from current rock radio. Singer Craig Cirinelli is tailor made for rock and roll stardom. The masses would happily listen to his whisper / drone as they have done for countless rock bands in the recent past. His band deserves a good amount of credit for managing to make his voice almost seem tolerable (although what it’s really lacking is originality). Some creative drumming on “This Landslide” with a guitar that very well could be Tool or Soundgarden back in the day make the song quite listenable, and even though Cirinelli was born to front a radio play getting band, it might be that it wasn’t this one. The four song EP shows tremendous potential and if their only goal was to be put on the radio, I would be shocked if this didn’t get them one step closer to that dream.