Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - The Speed of Things

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            So first things first, lets talk about this bands name.  It’s awesome.  Somehow it also fits the band perfectly.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.’s blend of power pop and synth-y dance tracks seems perfectly appropriate under the namesake of an American sweetheart…Jr. 

             Supposedly, the band emailed Earnhardt Jr. to assure him they weren’t making fun of him, and sent him samples of their music before it released.  He approved.

            Their full length “The Speed of Things” does seem as though it came a little late to the indie-synth-pop party, but had it showed up on time it would’ve dominated amongst bands like Foster the People and Grouplove.  This doesn’t mean that this band can’t have some long-term success though.  D.E Jr. Jr. is a band that seems like it has grown quickly (having started in late 2009 as a recording project in singer Daniel Zott’s basement).  After releasing two EP’s prior to their first full length, and gaining national recognition on Conan and various other mainstream avenues, the band could go anywhere.  Hopefully they can keep up momentum and continue to be creative in a genre that is (arguably) waning. 

            As songwriters, DE Jr. Jr. excel at the tired and true verse-chorus-verse-bridge-big last chorus formula.  They do a nice job of peppering in ambient intro’s that reference whatever the main melody is going to be in the upcoming song, and the blend of real instruments and synthesizers is tasteful. 

            Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is the perfect holiday gift for fans of Phoenix, Passion Pit, M83, Grouplove or Empire of the Sun, and is a good companion to our long winter to come.   There is really nothing like a happy song in the wintertime.  

Listen to "If You Didn't See Me (You Weren't on the Dancefloor)"

Buy "The Speed of Things" By Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Iron Chic - The Constant One

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It is hard to believe, but sometimes I find myself hard pressed for something new to listen to.  Before anyone goes off the handle with things like “you work at a record store!” or, “you have the internet!!” or “you have a phone!” keep this in mind…We listen to music all day long, mostly music that we haven’t heard (‘cause we all like to stay informed), and its great.  It’s the bee’s knees.  It’s the dog’s tuxedo (that’s a thing right?).  But, when you have so many choices available to you, sometimes its difficult deciding on just one CD.  Long story short, this week I have been pretty musically indecisive.  So instead of trolling the internet for what is trending right this second, or what the current charts say, I took a chance and grabbed a CD at random out of our listening booth selection for the month.  The album was “The Constant One” by Iron Chic.

Iron Chic is a throwback pop punk/hardcore band in the vein of Polar Bear Club, with a little Dave-Grohl-yell-singing thrown in for good measure.  You (probably) don’t know this, but I love pop punk.  I grew up listening to bands like Operation Ivy, Rancid, Less Than Jake (yes, I know technically ska) and eventually moved on to the pop punk/emo wave that swept up every fourteen-year-old kid that wasn’t on a sports team like a tsunami of loud guitars and tight pants. 

Iron Chic brought me back to the summer of 2001, when walking through the halls with my headphones blasting was the highest form of rebellion I could achieve, without really knowing what I was rebelling against.  They are angst-y, loud, boisterous, and seem to like to swear.  It’s been a while since I heard a band that sounded genuine in this genre. 

During the whole 2007-2009 scenester-all-time-low-four-year-strong-a-day-to-remember-warped tour craze, none of the bands that played this type of music seemed to really mean it.  A lot of them would just play pop punk choruses with nu-metal guitar chugs and scream breakdowns.  The pieces that felt “pop punk” really just seemed like filler till they could do another breakdown to get their crab-core stances of and shake their straightened hair around.  This is not the case with Iron Chic.  Its like they somehow missed that whole fad (to which I say kudos) and just make strait up, feel good, Long Island pop punk. 

As far as songwriting goes, Iron Chic doesn’t break the mold, but damn they are good at what they do.  There is a naiveté to their lyrics that feels at home with the music surrounding them, but they don’t seem contrived.  I believe what they are saying.  That isn’t a phrase I feel like I get to say enough about lyrical content, especially in a genre that (for a while) was overwhelmed with songs about popping bottles, laying under the stars, and how awesome summer was.  Yes, summer was awesome, the stars look great, and sure, everyone loves champagne, but I don’t need to hear about any of those things from someone in painted on neon pants and a v-neck…I doubt their credibility.  I do not doubt Iron Chic’s.

            Sonically, you couldn’t ask for a better pop punk record.  The guitars are appropriately massive, the snare drum is punchy as hell, and the vocals aren’t tuned in post-production.  Sure “The Constant One” probably isn’t for your parents.  It probably isn’t for you little brother or sister either (again, lotta swears) but if you want a good pick me up from a band that really f***ing means it, get your frostbitten New York hands on Iron Chic’s “The Constant One”.  If you hate it, its okay, they don’t care anyway.

Buy your copy of Iron Chic's "The Constant One" TODAY 

The Bloody Beetroots - Hide

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I looked through some of the artists I have reviewed in the past 5 months, and realized I have yet to review any kind of EDM.  It is not a genre I am particularly knowledgeable about, so I have been hesitant to throw in my two cents when I am not as versed in the “rules” (for lack of a better word) of the songwriting or sonic structure associated with it.  But it was brought to my attention that it is such a new genre (in comparison to “guitar music”) that there are far more frontiers that can be explored and considered new or original.  That being said, since the genre is relatively new to me, I wasn’t looking for something that reinvented the wheel, just something different and interesting.  Enter the Bloody Beetroots.

            Before I get to any kind of review or nitpicking on my part, let me start by saying it is important to not judge an album by its cover art.  I hate everything about the Bloody Beetroot’s cover art on their new album Hide.  It looks like a roller derby poster with a middle aged (venom masked) Spider-Man with razor teeth holding what seems to be a reanimated dead woman with a bloody baseball bat.  Seriously, looks like it could be a grind-core cover.  There was one glimmer of hope on the album art, which was a little red circle in the upper left-hand corner that says “Collaborations with Paul McCartney, Peter Frampton, Theophilus London, Sam Sparro and Tommy Lee.” 

            So bypassing my reservations about the ridiculous cover art, and the potential of hearing Tommy Lee on something willingly, I listened to the album.  The Bloody Beetroots are laughing somewhere because I’m pretty sure they are making fun of my inability to take chances.  The album is super interesting.  I have a suspicion that I might not be the only one the Beetroots are making fun of.  I think higher on the list than me might be Skrillex and company.  Or American dub step in general.  Hopefully this is coming across as a good thing to anyone reading.  If it doesn’t seem like it yet, its totally getting there.

            I admit, at first listen I went right to the McCartney collaboration.  I really wanted to hear what he had contributed to the album.  Not in any way what I expected.  McCartney has been a busy man, with his own album NEW coming out last month (which sounded like a solid years worth of work in and of itself), and his track on this album, one of the two remaining Beatles has worked hard to stay current, and it shows.  To me (and I’m sure plenty of other skeptics) the inclusion of McCartney’s vocals (which were sang specifically for this album and not sampled) was a huge boost in credibility.  Not to mention a great song and selling point for the album.

            Sonically The Bloody Beetroots are a mixture of deep bass warble, arpegiated high end, and top tier production, specifically the mixture of real and sampled drums, which is really interesting.  Obviously there is more to their sound then those two sentences, but again, EDM is pretty new to me.  The songwriting is impressive when one looks at the breadth and scope of songs written for this album. It is as self indulgent and diverse as Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, but totally its own creation.  Where it seems like Daft Punk got in their Delorian and went back to the 70’s, it sounds like The Bloody Beetroots went to 2070 and came back with this CD full of crazy-twisted-Back-to-the-Future-tangent-universe songs.  I truly enjoyed the album as a whole, and I am curious how their next release will up the ante on this album.

            Listen to the McCartney collaboration “Out Of Sight”

Get your copy of The Bloody Beetroots - Hide