Album Review: Taking Back Sunday, Taking Back Sunday (for The Music Network)

27 June 2011

by Poppy Reid

When Taking Back Sunday underwent a change in lineup in 2003, it was inevitable they would lose some of the emo-tinged punk that shaped the band’s sound during their modest beginnings in 1999. With the departure of vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist, John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper, the New Yorkers carried on down a more prog-rock path with each subsequent three albums. But now on their self-titled fifth record, both Nolan and Cooper are back, replacing Matt Rubano and Matthew Fazzi, and have brought with them some of the original sound we saw fire from their 2002 debut, Tell All Your Friends.

Many stalwart fans rejoiced at the thought of a restoration of their debut’s sound. However, with three albums in between Tell All Your Friends and this eponymous release, those less sanguine imagined it to be both very unlikely and quite possibly detrimental; they were right.

The album opener, El Paso is also the most deceptive track on the record. It kicks off with heavy guitars and dissonant, out of character vocals for frontman Adam Lazzara. For all its nu-metal energy and vigorous riffs, El Paso stands alone on an album of conflicting sounds.

Although most tracks seem to stand at odds with the old and new sound, there are some that actually get it right without little friction. Early track, Best Places To Be A Mom calls on both the Tell All Your Friends album as well as the alt-rock found on their last record, New Again. It courses between TBS’s back catalogue seamlessly without sounding nostalgic or lazy, the only disappointment comes when the track ends and we’re back to the grating hybrid.

Two tracks later we reach the inevitable filler in Money (Let It Go). Although it may have all the elements we’ve come to expect from the band: thought-provoking lyrics, energetic riffs and a melody as superbly layered as it is catchy; it just doesn’t omit the same power as its counterparts.

The album closer ties off what El Paso endeavored to start; Call Me In the Morning ends the record with the same well-crafted passion that seemed distant in the belly of it. Lyric-wise, this track is the most similar to their debut, Lazzara cuts himself open for this one and Nolan shouts harmoniously behind him, the wait for this impressive power duo has been a long time coming but was well worth it.

Generally, a band will use the ol’ self-titled cop out for their debut but with Nolan and Cooper’s return it’s apposite that this should be a rebirth. Unfortunately, with a matured sound instilled in TBS over three albums, a battle between new and old has sparked confusion. The up side is that the hybrid can only become more fine-tuned with each welcome successor.

Moby: Electro's humble hero (for The Music Network)

20 June 2011

by Poppy Reid

He’s been chastised by most everyone for his music and lifestyle; from Eminem to Tism to Russell Crowe, and although Moby arguably scored an epoch with his album’s Play and 18, he’s more than aware of his haters.

When Play achieved worldwide success in 1999, receiving Gold or Platinum status in 26 countries, Moby aka Richard Melville Hall was at his career’s peak. However, along with the fame, came a heavy backlash that only fuelled his strong sense of humility and self-deprecation.

“I thought that I would spend my whole life teaching philosophy at a community college and working at a bookstore and making music in my bedroom that no one else would listen to.”

Now, at 46, Moby has consistently released an album every two to three years; Destroyed is his tenth release and was crafted in the ungodly hours of the morning when his insomnia was in full swing.

“Some musicians when they’re in a hotel room at 3 o’clock in the morning they’re often having crazy parties and doing all sorts of fun things and me, I’m just in my hotel room by myself working on music or reading a book.”

Although he’s suffered from the sleep disorder since the age of 4, divulging this may only validate the public’s assumptions of him as a sterling churchite and all-round goody-goody. Perhaps this has contributed to the sound of Destroyed which, although Moby says is “about the dichotomy between comfort and isolation,” also shows he’s come away from his last record, Wait For Me with more ennui than recognition. “Sometimes isolation can be very seductive and very comforting and other times it can drive you a little bit crazy,” he says.

First single The Day not only reflects the concept behind Destroyed, it’s also the most forthcoming track on the record. Moby touches on the death of his mother who passed away from lung cancer in 1996 and his friend who suffers long and ongoing battles with drug addiction. Interestingly, he created the record as a form of therapeutic, sonic healing which he could call upon in solitary moments.

“When I was writing it I really wanted it to be music that made sense when I listen to it in my car or on a train late at night going through empty cities.”

Despite the fact his latest release is another prototypical Moby record, many are surprised when they hear his eclectic side-projects. Diamondsnake (where he plays heavy metal guitar) and soul six-piece The Little Death have both satiated Moby’s desire to step out from behind the synth table. “It would almost be arbitrarily odd to not allow myself to be affected by different types of music,” he says. Yet he firmly believes his need for a musical mixed bag has stopped him from profiting more from his electro work.

“I know if I wasn’t so eclectic I probably would have sold more records in my life because I think for some people the eclecticism has been very off-putting.

“People come to concerts expecting different things, every now and then at a concert we’ll play some punk rock songs and half the audience will be irritated and baffled that I’m not playing dance music.”

It seems amazing that while some are still openly tongue-lashing Moby with taunts about electro music, others are taking the same stand from the opposite end of the spectrum; but as has always been his style, Moby maintains an amicable humility.

“It’s been very surprising, even now to put out a record and get the sense that some people are still willing to listen to the music I make, it’s not what I expected… it’s safe to say that almost every aspect of the career I’ve had has been really unexpected and really surprising.”

Destroyed is out now through EMI Music.

Album Review: The Grates, Secret Rituals (for The Music Network)

17 June 2011

by Poppy Reid

For their third album, Secret Rituals, The Grates left sunny Brisbane to hole up in an apartment in Brooklyn, N.Y. They arrived hoping the city would rub its cold hands on them and take them from garage pop to dizzying layers of energetic epiphanies. Unfortunately the city inspired drummer, Alana Skyring to quit the band and enrol at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan.

After 18 months, a hermit-inducing blizzard and the help of producer Gus Van Go- Patience Hodgson, John Patterson and stand-in drummer Ben Marshall have delivered an album solid enough to write home about.

With tracks like the coquettishly sexual first single Turn Me On and the modishly reaching With You, the Brisbane band may have ditched the longstanding comparisons to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for good. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still enough Lalala’s and whoa oh’s to satiate long-time fans, but with the addition of layered keys, gravel-fuelled guitar lines and - wait for it - a bass guitar, Secret Rituals shows enough growth without losing the band’s playful drama.

Welcome To The Middle opitimises The Grate’s departure from sophomore record Teeth Lost, Hearts Won. Hodgson trills nursery rhyme lyrics over a detailed structure that takes it from a 21^st centuryRing a Ring O’ Roses to a standout track that’s as wholesome as it is facetious.

The biggest surprise on the record comes in final track, Moving Onwhere Hodgson takes on a somber vocal with Patterson’s hollow strumming ending the album on a low note. For a band that’s known for their feverish live show, tracks like this one and the loss of Skyring do evoke a sense that the manic energy the band embroiled as a live act has been heavily altered.

However, there's also a feeling this will work largely in their favour. Unlike The Grates’ earlier work, Secret Rituals isn’t all sugary-pop and parroting lyrics; for every effervescent track there is a more brindled treat which unravels the bubblegum stuck to your teeth and travels down the gullet quite nicely.

Secret Rituals is out now through Universal Music and Dew Pocess.

City and Colour: Happy In Hell (for The Music Network)

14 June 2011

by Poppy Reid

For Dallas Green, making his third City and Colour album wasn’t all creative cultivation and love labouring, it was a little hell of his own choosing.

It’s three o’clock in the afternoon and Green’s distinct voice can be heard long down the hallway of the Adina Hotel in Sydney; he’s sitting on the apartment’s couch sipping a Crown Lager and looking rather chipper.

Green, 31, is in the midst of his first Australian headlining tour, which completely sold out and cemented City and Colour as more than just a solo project of Alexisonfire’s dulcet-hued counterpart. But whether the Canadian’s latest offering, Little Hell goes Platinum like his debut, and whether he continues to sell-out concerts and inspire fans worldwide, the Juno Award winner will always have little faith in his work and capabilities; he uses his new track Hope For Now to explain this internal hell.

“There’s a line in the chorus that goes: ‘How can I instill so much hope, but be left with none of my own.’ It’s a question I ask myself a lot,” he says. “It’s nice when people say [they love me]. People are always saying ‘how can you be like that? You’re selling out concerts, people love your music’. I appreciate that and it’s what I’m striving for but at the end of the day when I’m going to sleep by myself, it’s me and my thoughts, alone, wondering if it was good enough.”

Admittedly tentative about the fervid opinions of his fans, Green actually has them to thank for his solo success; even confessing that if it wasn't for him surrendering to their pleas for physical copies of his work in 2004, he may not have released anything until this year.

“Maybe right about now as I turn 31, maybe I’d be like ‘oh I’ve got all these songs’. But they definitely pushed me to release a record.”

Since the release of Sometimes in 2005, Green has stayed the indie route despite his heedless climb to commercial success and major label intrigue. This is partly a “creative control” decision but also comes back to the theme surrounding the record.

“I feel like life is all about the little hells that you go through that allow you to get through to the good parts of life,” he explains. “I spent my whole career with people trying to tell me what to do and telling me because of my voice I should go and write pop songs or try to be famous; but really I’ve just done it the harder way and done it the way I wanted to do it without listening to anybody. I feel like I’ve earned it.”

Of course, the fact Green is one of the most celebrated and successful artists of his kind hasn’t stopped the industry vultures from trying to make pop-meat out of him. Thankfully though, his view on the current state of music will have fans resting easy.

“Right now we’re in Backstreet-Boys-land which is where we were ten years ago, but that’s how music goes right? Now, you’ve got your Gaga’s and your Rihanna’s, she can’t sing, she’s never written a song either! You know what though,” he pauses. “She’s gorgeous. You can’t expect her to do everything,” he then points to a nearby FHM Magazine where Rihanna is ironically sexing up the cover. “I mean I can sing but I can’t wear a negligee like that.”

Green may joke about who’s topping the pop scene of late but quickly turns frustrated on the subject of pop juggernaut, Lady Gaga. “I read this interview with Lady Gaga where she basically talks at length about how she’s one of the best singers in the world, one of the best songwriters in the world, one of the best performers in the world, and I’m just like how can you fucken’ say that about yourself! What an arrogant person to say that,” he exclaims. “To a degree I understand… but to a point when you’re just being narcissistic; it’s not my way of doing things.”

Fortunately, Greens way of doing things has already gifted us with Sometimes and 2008’s Bring Me Your Love – with their stripped back acoustic-folk refrain – they were perhaps more of a pencilled outline of this ballsier, more candid record that has succeeded them. The new track O’Sister is an ode to his older sibling who struggled with a mental illness; Green says he wrote this song with the same intention he injects into all of his work, in the hope it will heal him and the person it’s about.

“She’s my big sister and to have her be helpless and sick, it was weird for me you know because I’ve always looked up to her;” Green slowly tears the label from his beer. “And then for me not to be there, to be on tour all the time; the way I deal with it is I write songs to try and help me and in turn to help the person.”

The tributes and sonic healing don’t stop at Little Hell, the album was in fact recorded at Ontario’s Catherine North Studios as a tribute to its late owner Dan Achen, a friend of Green's who worked with him on Bring Me Your Love. As thoughtful as this gesture was, it was also the biggest challenge he faced. It was mixed in true stereo using purely analogue equipment, creating a sound similar to that which came out of the late ‘60. It’s downfall: if you mess up, you have to take it from the top.

“It was harder because with Pro-tools and computers you can just correct mistakes and you don’t have to worry,” he says. “But with a tape you have to do it well or you have to keep doing it until you do it well.

“Again, another one of those little hells, it was harder, I was very frustrated at times but again, I’m proud of the finished product.”

Taking the road less travelled, it’s not Green’s intention to stand out from the rest, but rather to deliver his sound at its most raw and let the music do the talking. Green may have hit the nail on the head when he suggests that perhaps the public are ready for honest music sans bells, whistles and glitter suits.

“I’d like to think that it has to do with the honesty in the music and that people are maybe sick and tired of the gimmicks you know.

“They just want to hear somebody play a song they wrote, and sing it, that’s it, not do a poorer version of someone else’s song on TV with flames and smoke machines and costumes; maybe they just want to hear music as it is.”

Little Hell is out now through Dine Alone/Shock

Simple Plan: Emo is not a dirty word (for The Music Network)

02 June 2011

by Poppy Reid

While it’s difficult for most to think of Simple Plan without affixing the group to the dreaded emo fad, for angst- ridden adolescents, they were the prophets of a new power-punk revolution. Even today, the quintet are largely recognised as the band who birthed Chuck Taylor stomping tracks like Welcome To My Life, Addicted and Shut Up, despite their osmosis through electro, rock and the occasional ballad over the past decade.

Their upcoming release, the punning Get Your Heart On, is the first since their eponymous album in 2008 and according to lead guitarist Jeff Stinco, it’s a chance to break sobriquets and become known for more than the now detrimental emo tag.

“We had to decide, how do you stay relevant? What do you do on your fourth record?” Stinco, 33, is nursing a hangover after a charity event for the Simple Plan Foundation when he calls from his Canadian home. “We’ve been around for ten years, we were known for certain things but we don’t necessarily want to stay in the same place either, so it’s kind of a balancing act.”

With albums like Still Not Getting Any and Simple Plan behind them, the band have bounced back from the brink, and as the title of the opus suggests, they’re ditching the woe-is-me burden for a lighter carriage.

“What really sticks out when you hear the whole record is that we’re here to have fun. We’re here to bring the party down and we want to make sure we do it right; that’s our art, we try to basically bring party music to an art form.”

In 2009, just as the band were riding worldwide success and had recruited an army of panda-eyed zealots, Simple Plan took some time off. Now on the verge of releasing album four, the band could not have picked a better time to come back. Bands like Yellowcard, Blink 182, Sum 41 and Panic! At The Disco are all back on the pop-punk scene, but despite the obvious parallels between Simple Plan and the aforementioned, Stinco avers the band are fabled enough to trounce any genre pigeonholing.

“I hope that with the years, it’s not about the genre anymore, it’s about recognising the band. I want to say this with all the modesty in the world,” he cautions. “I think that when you hear our sound, when you hear Pierre (Bouvier) singing, you recognise us rather quickly.”

Although they’ve yet to become a worldwide sanctioned icon, they’re already one step ahead with a band line up that has remained unchanged from their embryonic years but perhaps this is the reason for enlisting Rivers Cuomo to sing on their first single, Can’t Keep My Hands Off You. Artists like B.o.B, Best Coast, Julian Casablancas, Lil Wayne and Katy Perry have all piggybacked on the Weezerfrontman’s fame, so Simple Plan’s endeavor to tap into an unchartered niche is entirely apposite. The band even penned a few quirky lyrics for him and had Cuomo singing about toe jam and roll ups.

“A lot of the quirky lyrics that he’s singing were actually written by Chuck (Comeau) and Pierre,” says Stinco. “They had that lyrical twist before working with Rivers.”

The final product made the list of 15 tracks the band plucked from 70. Recording ensued and took the band six months, “We’re very slow at making records,” says Stinco. This was also due to a new method they decided on where they treated every track as if it would be a single and finished each individually before moving on to the next. Although Stinco says this was the biggest hurdle of

Get Your Heart On, the biggest is yet to come. Simple Plan are still yet to prove they have outgrown the pop-punk image along with their now matured fan-base.

“Are we a pop-punk band only? I don’t think so anymore,” he rebuts. “It’s definitely our roots, it’s where we come from and we’re definitely known to be part of that scene, but there’s a lot more to it now.”