BY MIKEY MIGO
Normally, in the past I've treated the "First Impressions" series as a chance to catch up on a band's entire discography that I've never given a full fair listen to in the past. It's been fun. I've had the pleasure of listening to the likes of "Simon and Garfunkel", "The Stooges", "Regina Spektor", "The Smiths", and others for the first real time. At the same time, I've listened to artists that left me bored, annoyed, or angry with "Kings of Leon", "Portishead", or "Rise Against". Some music is just not my cup of tea, but at least I gave them a fair shot.
Today I'm going to mix it up a little. I'm going to be checking out a few 2010 debut albums by bands I have heard nothing of, but a little about. And when I say I've heard "a little about" I basically mean I've read their names on the internet or magazines and know they have a certain "buzz" around them. I'm always hopeful for the future so I look forward to this experience. In many cases, the first album for many bands still gets the praise as a band's best work. I can't count how many times I've gotten my "snob on" and have said something like, "it's okay, but it's still not as good as their first album." For my ears and sanity's sake I'm hoping for that today.
The Soft Pack
by The Soft Pack
(Duration – 32min) Don't know anything about this band. I read they've toured with Franz Ferdinand in 2009 so that's cool. "C'Mon" starts us off. It's good! It's gritty, up tempo, rock. I guess you could call it surf rock, but it's got that "indie rock" vibe to it as well. "Down On Loving" just goes full force and never slows down. It's only 2:08, but manages to get in a full feeling song. I really like the dirty shredding of the short guitar solo. You can hear the surf style clear as day in "Answer To Yourself". Once the vocals kick in I start to think that I've heard this song somewhere before. It's a solid track and I'm surprised isn't a huge single. It's a great throwback and comes off strong on its own freshness. The lyrics rock the house and are positive and uplifting. This song has officially won me over and I'm now "into" what I'm hearing. Good shit. We get into a good head nodder in "Move Along". I'm taken in by its percussion and taken back by the keys and guitar's spontaneity. The surf rock guitar intro to "Pull Out" warps into something with punk-like aggression and swagger. "More Or Less" is another song that is so well done that it feels like you've heard it (and have enjoyed it) before. It's not a direct rip off of anything, but has a level of comfort to rock music loving ears while still experiencing something new. "Tides Of Time" is just good. I'd be down with this being a single and I think it would be a good one for the group. It's a strong track and is a great track to let someone get a peek at what they're missing. "Flammable" is interesting. The music sounds like its being fast forwarded as the vocals remain the same. It's fast and still rocks. The melodic bounce of the song gives me a visual of a horse chase. The bass opening of "Mexico" is cool. It goes into a surf rock sounding ballad. It's like if "500 Days of Summer" had a Hawaii montage. We close out the ten track album with "Parasites". It's a more up tempo track that groves into full burn rock out song. Overall, "The Soft Pack" is hard to categorize. It's like if The Stones and The Beach Boys collaborated after a night of binging. By far one of the better new bands I've heard in awhile. It's right up my alley. It's gritty, old school sounding, fresh, erratic, and emotive rock music. Pure good old fashion rock music. Check these guys out as soon as you can.
Causers of This
by Toro Y Moi
(Duration – 33min) Toro Y Moi has taken some time to figure out his artistic direction, but he's making a pretty big impact with electronic and pop. They even coined a whole new genre in relation to what he's doing called "chillwave". Which I guess is like a trip-pop. Pink Floyd meets R Kelly if you will. If THAT is what I'm in for, then let's get to it. We start off with "Blessa" and you can already understand what "chillwave" is. It's got a hip hop vibe, but a soothing trippy atmosphere. It's a great sound. Moi's vocals over this are strong and compliment the music beautifully. "Minors is similar, but more of a wide scope down tempo track. It lifts you and pulls you in all and no directions at once. The intro to "Imprint After" is good stuff and then goes into a soulful synth voyage that's almost too much to handle on headphones. "Lissoms" jumps into a tripped out dance track. It ends before I can compute it. It's hard to even put a thought together for "Fax Shadow". It's a soulful strut through the crazy mirror section at a carnival. It's very well done and should be a single or at least have a video. "Thanks Vision" has a great groove and distorts in and out of consciousness. "Freak Love" warps in and out almost a little too much. I enjoy what I hear, but instead of giving a "chillaxing" vibe, it distracts me. "Talamak" gets it right again. It's trippy and provides an interesting listen, but isn't too challenging to the ears or experience. You can't help but drift away with "You Hid". The beat has funk to it, the distant vocals resonate, and the vibe sets it up for goodness. "Low Shoulder" has a lot of layers, but may be the most conventional track on the album. The synth borders on "Beverly Hills Cop" score and junior high preprogrammed Casio keyboard. The title track "Causers of This" closes out the album. It's obviously a club type of song, but doesn't really close the album with the same oomph that it started out with. I really enjoyed this album, especially the first half, and will be spreading the word to friends about it. Toro Y Moi's manipulation of sound is worth checking out. It's a great album to chill out and let your mind wander. A good portion of my friends are creative minds of some type and this could play as part of the soundtrack for many experiences to come. Definite recommendation.
Habits
by Neon Trees
(Duration – 29min) I know this band has gotten a fair amount of attention. These guys opened for The Killers on their 2008 tour and come 2010 their debut LP is out. We start off with "Sings of My Youth". It sounds a lot like The Killers. It's got more electricity than a song by The Killers. It's catchy, but doesn't do much for me. "Love and Affection" starts off with a great groovy bass line. It's a good groove-rock song, but the vocals bother me. "The rich get rich. The poor grow old"? C'mon. The single of the album, "Animals" starts off strong and then breaks into a song that I HAVE heard. I've heard it but I've never really paid much attention to it. Compared to the two songs before it, it seems VERY polished and cleaner. If I'd of paid attention I'd of noticed how there's points where the vocalist sounds a tad like Elmer Fudd. For what it is, pop rock, it's solid as they come. "Your Surrender" comes next and it sounds nothing like the single. The music and guitar work reminds me of U2. So that obviously means that so far it's my favorite song of the album. "1983", the year of my birth, starts strong and has a good melody. I find myself lightly head banging along in a little dance. There's nothing too special about it. It's just bouncy compared to the last few songs. Next up is "Girls and Boys in School", a very good synth pop song. Its Casio-sounding loop, the strong bass, the grove, and the vocal range all complement each other very nicely here. It gives "Your Surrender" a run for its money as my favorite track of the album thus far. "In the Next Room" then takes us to a finger snapping pop rock ballad-like song. Weak sauce. It feels generic. We finish up with "Our War". It starts off with an "oh so deep" sample of some guy reading a poem and goes into a bland tune. It's hard to believe this album is only about a half hour long because it honestly felt a lot longer. There's some quality here, but it's just not for me and is music that I typically do as much as possible to avoid. They're labeled as "pop rock" and "new wave". The "pop" portion is a bit too boring for my tastes. I think it's the lyrics. You CAN be pop and have creative edge; I just didn't get much of it here with the lyrics. I can see how people like them and if they evolve into something with substance and depth I'd be very curious to hear what they do next. If there's more of this, count me out.
Treats
by Sleigh Bells
(Duration – 32min) This Brooklyn noise pop duo is getting mad love from many directions. Guitars, songwriting, and producer Derek E. Miller, formerly of Poison The Well, handles the music workload as Alexis Krauss, formerly of the teen pop group Rubyblue, provides vocals and a reportedly great energy. I have no problems with duos. I love me some White Stripes, was a long time fan of Dresden Dolls, and Gnarls Barkley was fun for awhile. Sleigh Bells has gotten praise from Pitchfork, ABC, Rolling Stone, and Entertainment Weekly among other sources. All of this got them signed with M.I.A.'s label and got this album released in May of this year. They have tons of "buzz" and many credible sources are giving them praise. So my expectations are kind of higher than the rest going into this. "Tell 'Em" opens up the album with a lot of cyber-pop impact. The explosive intro goes into a poppy bounce track. It's hard to describe, its guitar pop with a hardcore dance-like pop song. It's noisy and layered like a industrial song, but has a certain head nodding swagger to it. "Kids" has more of a hip hop flavor to it, but without the grit. Like if a turn of the century Brittney Spears got really into ecstasy and slam dancing. "Riot Rhythm" is another mindblower. It's got heavy rock guitars, snappy drums, and very danceable and playful cyber vocals. Then the chorus kind of reminds me of Mindless Self Indulgence, which makes it even more of a "wtf" song. All this and it still manages to be a very fun tune. "Infinity Guitars" has a punk edge to it while balancing out gritty guitars, a clap-a-long beat, and day old bubble gum vocals. Before it's over you find yourself head banging and dancing at the same time. "Run the Heart" is a full on industrial hip hop song with sonar-like vocals. "Rachel" starts like a classic techno song, but the droney delicate vocals give it a whole different tone than you'd be used to. It's like you changed albums on your playlist as "Rill Rill" is more down tempo groove track. Your head nodding cannot be controlled as you just bob along to the beat and take in the great vocals. "Crown on the Ground" breaks and breaks hard. It's dancey, dirty sounding, and is some sort of noise-hop type of track. It's abrasive in all the right places and danceable in the rest. Then we get heavy with a guitar driven noise-punk track in "Straight A's". It's aggressive and weird, but at 1:30 you're jarred just long enough to like it. "A/B Machines" starts with a computer effected chant that is joined by droning guitars and then into a slinky sleaze dance track…and back again. We close this beast out with the title track "Treats". It loops at start and slowly builds into a strong guitar track. Krauss provides softly raged vocals that hints at a church hymn. Then it all just ends. You're left with your ears on the floor searching for any leftover sound from the experience you just had. What we have here is a delicious buffet of sound. The general genre stamping of this band is nearly impossible as they create a completely fresh sound. The production is immaculate. All of the different sounds, styles, and layers could of ended up being a complete mess, but Miller manages to please the ears in this multi-layered music journey. The term "before it's time" is thrown around often, but THIS album is way before it's time. Hopefully, they continue to evolve and don't let anyone get close to catching up.
What other unsung debuts of the year do you suggest?
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