The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules

The Whitest Boy Alive is the side project of Erlend Øye whose main project is with the folk-pop group Kings of Convenience, Erlend is probably most easily recognized as the vocalist on Röyksopp's song "Remind Me" (a.k.a. the caveman song). The Whitest Boy Alive started as an electronic project, with the group's original album 'Dreams' being released in 2006. Since then they have moved away from that electronic sound and lost all their pre-programmed elements. 'Rules' is more of a jazz-influenced album that is helped along by plenty of great lyrics from Erlend Øye.

'Rules' starts out with back-to-back hits in "Keep a Secret" and "Intentions" and these songs set the tone for the rest of the album by establishing the common theme that ties together the album. 'Keep a Secret' starts with the opening line, "Can you keep a secret? Honestly, no." It is this type of lyric that appears throughout the remainder of 'Rules', with songs like 'Gravity' being driven by its poignant lyrics. While many of the songs on 'Rules' remain light and upbeat in their tone and texture, many of the lyrics are dark and downcast at the same time.

Some of the time, when light music is mixed with darker lyrics it can be confusing and overall ends up being lost on the listener, but with 'Rules' none of the points that Erlend is trying to drive home are lost in the jazzy hooks and melodies that are also present on the same tracks. Overall, 'Rules' presents itself to me as one of the strongest albums of the year, endless hooks and great melodies combined with lyrics that are actually challenging to the listener make this an album worth listening to over and over again.
9.2/10

'Rules is out now on iTunes and is in stores on March 31st.
The Whitest Boy Alive - Intentions (MP3)


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Now playing: The Whitest Boy Alive - Keep A Secret
via FoxyTunes

Dan Deacon - Bromst

Baltimore Wham City native Dan Deacon broke into the indie blogosphere with his last album, 2007's "Spiderman of the Rings." Deacon was quoted saying that while 'Spiderman' served as the appetizer to a bigger meal, he wanted Bromst to be that meal. And certainly with how dense the entire album is, one can see why he thought of Bromst as a full meal compared to the palate-wetting 'Spiderman'.

Deacon also said that compared to Spiderman this album was much darker in feel and sound. Because of songs like 'Snookered' (my personal fave) and 'Slow With Horns/Run For Your Life' Bromst can easily be seen as the darker more complicated relative of Spiderman but can also be much more rewarding at times.

Dan Deacon has a bit of a formula when it comes to his songs. He first builds crescendos and then mixes in contrasting chord changes while densely layering sound after sound. This creates Deacons signature sound which is something similar to a cartoon-inspired dance album. However, if the listener can get over the obviousness of a few of Deacon's songs that is when you can truly enjoy them. Songs like 'Build Voice' and 'Red F' both follow the same type of formula, but if/when you can push this fact out of the way these songs prove to be truly fun songs to listen to (which is the point of almost any Dance type album.) And overall 'Bromst' proves itself as a very enjoyable record.

That being said, by the time I got to tracks like 'Woof Woof' (which is kind of a ripoff of his own song 'Woody Woodpecker')I was starting to get bored with Deacon's sound. Part of me really hopes that he pursues some new instruments and sounds in his next album, if for no other reason than to change his style up just enough to keep me guessing while still being his signature self. Because, as great as many of Deacon's songs are, if his next album is more of the same of his previous two albums, then we are in for a potentially painful album.

Overall, Bromst is an enjoyable album even though it starts to border on repetitive and unoriginal. There are however, enough songs great songs to keep me spinning this record over and over.
7.9/10

Bromst is out on March 24th (next tuesday) from Carpark records.
Pre-order it here


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Now playing: Dan Deacon - Red F
via FoxyTunes

Wavves - Wavvves

Nathan Williams is a skateboarder from san deigo who blogs about rap, and plays melodic punk rock, so what is he doing on national media outlets like ABC News? The hype surrounding Wavves has been building over the last few months, so much so, that his new album "Wavvves" has become one of the most anxiously awaited albums of the new year. So, does the music that Wavves delivers worthy of the acclaim that has been annointed upon him?

Quite simply, yes. Wavves at it's core is an extremely lo-fi, distorted, garage rock, punk band, but when you get deeper into the album, it reveals itself as having levels maybe not seen. One of these is very experimental, with the different guitar parts, and the riffs and solos, Wavves establishes himself as an original face in the punk world. Another hidden level, is some of the syncopated drum beats that remind me of bands like "The Dodo's", this just adds another layer of sonic bliss on the preverbial Wavves onion.

Besides all the talk that one can have about the music, and the instrumentals on Wavvves, the core of the album upon which, songs like "So Bored" and "No Hope Kids" are based, are the melodic vocals which one would not usually expect from garage rock. Really, as great as the instruments, the fuzz, the guitars, and everything else is on this album, its the vocals that really clinch it for me.
8.7/10

Wavvves is out now digitally on Fat Possum Or on iTunes