Hot Hot Heat is back with more suck for us to choke on. Their latest single Let Me In comes off a new album that I was hoping would be more akin to their first album Make Up the Breakdown than their sophomore release Elevator.
The Hot Hot Heat situation is a good example of why fans are so against "going mainstream". It's not really about the band becoming well known, selling out, or not signing a billion things after concerts. It's about changing your sound in a way that eliminates uniqueness. Make Up the Breakdown was unique, if not perfect. It was early new new wave, before new new wave was in vogue again, pre-Killers. Elevator was the great leap to mainstream that sounded nothing like the previous album and made up HHH's own let down.
The latest release was a place to reach back or stay the course, and we've seen what they chose. Let Me In is completely indistinct. It sounds like a bunch of noise, I can barely understand the vocals. The music is bland and constant--no highs or lows, no emotion. What happened to the wood block, the funky beats, and the lack of production? Final Note HATE
Rilo Kiley is back in action and I'm super excited about it. The latest issue is not much of an improvement on More Adventurous, but more of the same lesser quality tracks.
As evidenced in Close Call, the group has the uncanny ability to vocalize almost any topic without imposing judgment. The fist single and attempt to break mainstream, The Moneymaker, is my least favorite track because it leaves all folk sensibility aside in favor of blase climactic moments. A better choice would have been Breakin' Up, a happy medium with minor electro pop sounds, actual climactic activity, and a hook while staying true to Rilo Kiley's sound. If it weren't to have competed with Umbrella, it could have been a summer hit about self-reflection/actualization a la Suddenly I See:
Oh! It! Feels good to be free!
The best part about Rilo Kiley albums though is the variety in tracks and the unexpected stories that are told. In 15, we hear an ironically playful story about a guy who has sex with too young of girl, which calls Sublime's Wrong Way to mind for musical as well as topical reasons. Then you spin into Smoke Detector, which finds a million puns for smoking. Close out with the encouraging Give a Little Love and go on with your fabulous day. Final Note LOVE
Britney Spears's video for Gimme More is building a lot of buzz, not only because it's Britney, bitch, but also because America has been following the drama of her "everyday" life. Despite the devastating VMA performance and mounds of awful publicity, Gimme More is a triumph of pop music even if Britney isn't. It's hot right now, yo.
I'm going to insert a mea culpa in here. I originally said that I did not like the song, but oh how it has grown on me. I turn it up everytime I hear the first beats.
With it's recent debut on TRL and a host of other places, like iTunes, it seemed fitting to review the video. We see Britney in her usual environment as of late--a club. We see her drinking with friends and watching a pole dancer, who turns out to be Britney too! Is this art imitating life?
Let's talk about the dancing. It's no VMA performance. It looks good, but there's a lot of camera cuts and you realize Britney really isn't doing that much. There's no breakdown dance routine, a crushing blow to my enthusiasm for the video. In fact, the video actually seems more suggestive than sexual, if one disregards the revealing dress code.
And there's a part where Britney actually smiles. When was the last time we saw that? Final Note HATE
This blog is becoming more difficult for me to keep up. With that said, there are going to be some changes. First, I'm scrapping the posting format. You'll still get the links you need, but I can't say as much or as little as I want trying to write in a framework so rigid.
Anyway, so Lovefest is an amazing dance party in San Francisco's Civic Center once a year. There's a parade to lead it off before the floats crowd around for daytime ravers. If there was a trend in the floats, it was more speakers and fewer people than last year. The emphasis was put front and center with no room for gyrating bodies. Those would have to be down below.
Captains and slutty flight attendants ruled the friendly skies last Saturday. This picture was one of the better with bumpin' beats and an airplane theme.
Hot Hot Heat is back with more suck for us to choke on. Their latest single Let Me In comes off a new album that I was hoping would be more akin to their first album Make Up the Breakdown than their sophomore release Elevator.
