Space camp is a rowdy band that isn’t afraid to pound back a few brews with fans and friends, both before and after a show. Last night at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis, they practiced their craft with a pointedly reckless abandon, to the delight of the 30 or so surly music fans in attendance. The show raged on until 2 a.m. or so, at which point it became clear that the band would either need to hit the showers or risk becoming sober enough to drive home safely.
Without a set list in hand, the band took suggestions from yelling fans, the bass player, bartender, and probably the sound man as well. And they did it in a refreshing way that seemed to say, “We’ll play whatever the heck you want us to play!! *crowd cheers* Now, where’s the beer?”
When I listen to Hojas Rojas’ new album, “Kill Me I Love You”, I am immediately reminded of noble princes climbing mountains, battling dragons, and toiling against inner demons all in the name of saving virgin princesses. This album is noble, indeed.
It tells the tale of a long journey through peril and into uncertainty. A tale of love. Of burning desire. It speaks of days past where you weren’t so afraid of telling the truth. Noble days. Sad days. Days darkened by abuses. But always at the end of the day there was hope, right? That seems to be the question that “Kill Me I Love You” is asking. Is there hope?
This story is set up on the album’s first track, You Don’t Know Me At All, where lead singer, D.J. Kukielka sings:
Please forgive me when I speak
when my heart is strong and my mind is weak
Youre the only one I love
I let you down
Through beautifully layered pianos, strings, guitars, and vocals all set to rock solid drum beats, Hojas Rojas strings together quite a tale.
Kukielka’s vocals do an excellent job of covering a wide range of emotions, while Tim Hovanetz keeps things together on drums. Manuel Guzman (bass) and T.J. Shaffer (guitar) put forth notable efforts that really allow Kukielka’s vocals to soar.
This album is mixed brilliantly and features an ambiance that is scary yet strangely comforting.
If The Legend of Zelda were a feature length movie directed by Ang Lee, this album would be the soundtrack.
(Above: Link does battle to save the honor of his true love.)
Songs like Rainfall, Under the Covers, and Sunbeam would blare as Link tears through red and blue monsters en route to saving his true love. Meanwhile, These Days and the album’s title track tell the tale of his burning desire to find his true love.
On These Days, Kukielka sings of the daily battle:
These days we’re fighting the same war we’ve fought a million times before.
And every time we lose.
Also, as a side note, the intro to Sunbeam sounds a little like the music from the boats in Super Mario Brothers 3. How awesome is that?!
(Above: Remember those boats from Super Mario Brothers 3?)
Hojas Rojas will be hosting a cd-release party at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis on Friday, July 14th with Action vs. Action & Thin Man. Please visit their website for more information.
Summary: Hojas Rojas has put together something special here.
Like their previous albums, Muse delivers an annoying techno album intersperced with beautiful melodies. And, much like their previous albums, there is just too much annoyingness to make this one a worthwhile listen.
Muse is at their best on slower, instrumentally-driven songs like “Soldier’s Poem”, “Take a Bow”, and “Invincible”. But they are at their worst on Map of the Problematique, a song that lacks both clarity and direction - just like this album.
Yet, for all the nonsense on the album, there are fine qualities as well. With a staid drumbeat and timely chromatic shifts, “Invincible” pours out emotion that was buried beneath cracked surfaces.
But “Invincible” is followed by “Assassin”, a song that must have been written by Sepultura back in 1997. Repleat with chanting devils and double bass staccato, “Assassin” further entrenches this album in a cycle of soul searching.
(Above: Sepultura file photo)
If this band would just stick to what they do best - writing powerful rock ballads - they could be something special. Instead, they remain a band with an ephemeral reputation for consistency.
Summary: Good for a mind-numbing experience, and not much more.
A little while ago, the Plagiarists were just another good band amongst thousands. But after Afternoon Records founder, Ian Anderson, saw them play a battle of the bands, he offered them a recording contract on the spot. Now they are a good band with a recording contract - a much better position to be in as anyone trying to self-finance a record will tell you.
Veto! is a mature-sounding rock album that features subdued guitars being played over some powerful drums. The vocals sung by lead singer, Eric Wilson, are laid-back and a perfect fit for this album.
You’ll want to sit back and listen to this album after a hard day of work, when you are unwinding with a can of pop and a bag of chips and thinking about why you broke up with your last girlfriend, who was so much better than your current one.
Recorded in 10 days, Veto! is an excellent first foray into the record-making business for the Plagiarists. It is bookish on a cerebral level and maintains a consistent level of highbrow rock throughout.
Summary: An excellent first effort from this youthful group.
The Like Young, if you haven’t heard, is a duo made up of the husband-and-wife team of Chicagoans Amanda and Joe Ziemba. Joe plays guitar while Amanda plays drums, but both sing and both have fantastic haircuts.
They often get compared to Weezer or, more predictably, to Quasi or Mates of State because of the boy-girl vocals. I really don’t know what it is about boy-girl harmonies, but to me they’re as yummy as chocolate. Some of my favorite bands (Versus, The New Pornographers, Stars, and lately Sid n’ Sadie aka Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs) all seem to use this disgustingly irresistible formula. It’s a very sneaky way of winning over music simpletons like me, but luckily, The Like Young have been pretty good at keeping their work interesting.
The Like Young won me over with their first album, “Art Contest”, which was filled with catchy hooky punky rock kept nice and simple with power chords, synths, and lively and solid drumwork. (Check out the video of “Snobs and Slobs” on their homepage.) I loved the follow-up, “So Serious”, just as much. “Last Secrets”, Album Number Three for The Like Young, isn’t the treasure trove of catchiness that the previous two albums were, but that’s not a bad thing. “For Money or Love” sounds very much like The Like Young that I know, but it seems like the two have become less reliant on simply “rocking.” We find that the guitar and drums have calmed down a little and that the Ziembas have been working on their songwriting chops, with pretty good results. The Weezer comparisons can still be made (just listen to “All The Wrong Reasons”), but some songs remind me of Ted Leo or of 90s indierock. The songs are much more interesting this time, and the energy’s still there. I’ve never seen them live, but I’m sure they’re a sight to see. Did I mention the haircuts?
Middlepicker’s second album, Middlepicker Walks the Plank, much like it’s predecessor, has a title that is a 3-word sentence which lacks a period at the end. I like it when musicians use sentences as album titles. I even encourage bands to use full sentences when naming songs. I do this regularly. However, I do wish that proper grammar were used more often when doing so. I think that if you are going to do something different, you should go all the way. Don’t be shy, Middlepicker. Name your songs full sentences with periods.
Middlepicker Walks the Plank continues down the path of Gravedigger-like monster truck destruction that began with their previous album, Middlepicker Brings the Nasty. This band totally kicks ass.
(Above: Gravedigger destroys a schoolbus and some cars. It is unclear as to whether or not the school children made it out in time to avoid his indiscernable destruction.)
Clocking in at only 20 minutes or so, Middlepicker Walks the Plank is a quick pleasure that you can fit in during smokebreaks at work or during phone conversations with your bill collectors. The seven songs on this album drive you up to the cliff, then brutally beat you before throwing you down into a fiery pit of 20-something wrath.
Summary: This is a powerful indie rock album for those of us who enjoy such things.
I left 1996 thinking that Beck was God’s choice to carry the torch once grunge died. For a few months, he did just that, as Odelay sent hit after hit to the Billboard Top 20. Then came Mutations (a big snorefest), Midnight Vultures (an amazingly average album), and Sea Change (one of the worst albums I have ever heard).
So, as you might imagine, I was expecting the worst when I first popped Guero into my cd player, which might explain why I think it is surprisingly good. After the last three debacles, it is good to see that Beck has not dropped off the face of the earth. In fact, it seems that he has been honing his songwriting skills and getting back to writing the catchy hooks that made him famous in the first place.
Now, I don’t like it when artists make catchy hooks for the sake of impressing audiences. I can see right through these frail attempts to gain my attention, and I don’t like it. I am offended by it. I like music, because it is an art, not because it is a business. And, while this most recent album by Beck is probably a balance between the two extremes, it isn’t horrible. Indeed, Beck’s talent shines through an album muddied with textbook record company poop. Repeating, boring choruses plague this album from start to finish, but insightful melodies sung over the verses make this album worth cherishing.
Summary: I wouldn’t buy this album, but I might listen to it next time I’m tired and need to chill out.
The Ditty Bops play some unique music. It is beautiful, weird, and has bite. The band consists of two ladies, who, in their music videos, regularly chop eachothers heads off. No joke.
Their videos are actually what made them so compelling after I stumbled upon them on mySpace. There are a lot of bands out there playing good music, but the Ditty Bops take it one step further by making good videos. I respect that.
In addition to making videos that buck the status quo, The Ditty Bops also are conducting a national tour by bike. No shit.
Their new LP, Moon Over the Freeway, contains moments of brilliance supplemented by hardcore, old-school, acoustic bluegrass jams. The vocal stylings stand out as the group’s trademark, though. As co-lead singers, Amanda and Abby, continually trade blows and intermingle harmonies. Their voices are soft, but brash. Needy yet demanding. For example, on “Fall Awake”, the women sing:
I’m too young
You think you’re old
Why don’t you just hold me cold
I don’t like it when you talk about yourself like that
It changes the way that I feel
There’ll be no bad dreams
When you’re lying next to me
I don’t care about the rules
We only answer to ourselves
Summary: This is a no-nonsense band that is all nonsense. Check out their tour-by-bike!
Strap into Megawatt or plug in Everyone Loves A Relic or Tunes For The Marooned. All three albums by Jack Brian Riedel (JBRmusic.com - Phoenix, AZ) include a host of supporting musicians, producers and engineers.
On Megawatt: - Can’t argue with the Smuggler or Carolan. Just try. The samples are here. Track 1: SmugglerTrack 6: Carolan
- Digital Dream couldn’t catch The Cars? Catch again.
- Break ‘Em Out. Third-person writing, incredible guitar solo and vocals, don’t want to say rivals Plant, but can’t say enough for the pro, Greg Vaughan, at Standing Wave Music studios (Standing-Wave-Music.com).
- Through Jupiter and Chain Reaction, something like mid-90’s hippie raves on XTC.
- I was never into Night Ranger, but The Thin Line is truly a sentimental hard rock ballad with a sweet acoustic solo and vocal reentry from the bridge like a sky diver in love without a parachute.
- Here We Go the smorgasbord. Feels like a slap in the face from the Stones at first, introspective and goofy after that, and then tripping into some comfortable Steve Miller or Jimmy Buffet ramble.
- Valentine falsetto a la Prince. Another nice turn around into a strum near the end.
- Taking It To The Top. Shit’s classic High Voltage.
- Sons Of Winter settles in to a snow storm, driving and steady, the listener trapped before realizing the album is already over.
Play again.
Front to back.
Won’t be disappointed.
I’m listening again right now.
Space Camp
- Can’t argue with the Smuggler or Carolan. Just try. The samples are here. 
Play again.
