Their fifth studio release, Re:(disc)overed is a celebration of sorts for the polyglot band’s 10 years in music, and if someone’s gonna let them do it, well heck they’ll do it. They’re auspicious beginnings demand nothing less.

“We chose some that may be unexpected to some just so we could push the Puddle envelope a bit,” said PoM’s lead guitarist Paul Phillips.

He said the new versions of the songs were more tribute than reinvention. “Our goal in interpreting these songs was to pay more tribute rather than reinvent,” Phillips said. “These are all classics that are perfect in every sense, so who are we to mess with that? We just wanted to represent them in their true form and add a little of our sound to them. We cut everything with very few takes and tried to keep it very live like those old seventies records.”

The new album includes: AC/DC’s “TNT,” Steve Miller’s “The Joker,” Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” Billy Squier’s “Everybody Wants You,” Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty’s duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (which Puddle Of Mudd recorded with BC Jean), Steve Miller’s “The Joker,” Free’s “All Right Now,” Bad Company’s “Shooting Star,” James Gang’s “Funk,” Led Zeppelin’s “D’yer Maker,” Neil Young’s “Old Man,” and the first single, The Rolling Stones soulful classic, “Gimme Shelter.”

Wes Scantlin said winnowing down the songs to the final cut brought out the wrinkles, in a way.

“As I’ve become an adult, I’ve realized that I have become my old man,” Scantlin said. “I seem to have inherited the same traits as him, whether they are good or bad. I’ve been listening to that one forever and now I’m living it.”

Puddle Of Mudd have scheduled five shows where the first half of the show they will perform songs from re:(disc)overed followed by the favorites:

July 23 – Webster Theater, Hartford, Connecticut
July 24 – Northern Lights, Clifton Park, New York
July 26 – Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire
July 28 – Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, New Jersey
July 30 – House of Blues, Cleveland, Ohio

Some information provided from a news release

On top of the unsettling feeling of not being sure for a little while whether the singer was male or female or something in between the overall sound is too light and too inconsistent.

Released May 23, Torches has all the signs of drool-worthy goodness; fun cover art, unafraid to use weird instruments and even more strange rhythm breaks. But I couldn’t shake the feeling they were trying too hard to achieve something that, as of now, is beyond them. The importance of being earnest is not to come across as too earnest.

Someone in this band (Mark Foster) likes to tell stories and’s good at it. It’s easy to gain more respect for the band just reading the lyrics. (Perhaps only reading the lyrics?)

“Pumped Up Kicks” is, by increment, the best tune on the CD. It may be coincidence that this song seems to have had the simplest recording history – recorded, mixed, produced and performed by Mark Foster. Just has a nice lazy beat throughout telling the tale of a modern day teenage cowboy with revenge on his mind. Tells those with the pumped up kicks “you better run, better run, faster than my bullet.” It’s the most pure sound. There’s whistling.

There’s whistling?

That’s followed by the mess of “Call It What You Want.” Too many styles trying to do too little. Seems like it might be a dance tune, a nice little keyboard riff, some annoying beeps in the background which begin to take on too much earspace. Then it opens in a chorus of voices and the crack in the wall of sound causes the whole thing to crumble. I DID still find myself bobbing my head a little, as I did on several others – but I had long since tuned out of caring about the song.

Still, it ends with wise words:

If I don’t conform to what you were born into then you run the other way. / You say, ‘Now what’s your style and who do you listen to?’ Who cares? / Well that rat race ladder-climbing fake-face smile’s got nothing on me.”

“Don’t Stop” starts promising but then buries itself under layers – and those incessant beeps, as if their robot overlord was in the studio having a fit. I honestly had trouble getting past it and chipmunk giggling in the background just, obviously (should’ve been obvious) is unnecessary for the muse in music.

But I kept on listening and it came back to the voice. Being able to sing means letting those pipes rattle and not clog them with 401 different effects to remind us that it’s not just auto-tune that can kill a buzz with buzz.

“Waste” is Muzak lounge music. “I Would Do Anything For You” is the hackiest slackjaw love song going. “Miss You ” is another highlight, where one sound sticks around long enough to make a pleasant, lasting impact. And the rest of the CD comes to a lazy, shrugging end.

It seems as if we’ve been caught in a Ross changing room. Each song tries on a new jacket, looking for a style it can’t find. And you can smell the desperate hope for a worthy destination without a plan for how to get there.

Foster The People out on tour now. They tackled Coachella (without having released an album) and will hit Lollapalooza in August. I missed my chance when they were in Tempe, Arizona. I’d be curious how they sound live. Tell me.

Official website: FosterThePeople.com – Main members: Mark Foster, Vocals, Guitar and Synth. Mark Pontius, Drums. Cubbie Fink (?), Bass.

Tracks
Helena Beat
Pumped Up Kicks
Call it What You Want
Don’t Stop (Color On The Wall)
Waste
I Would Do Anything For You
Houdini
Life On The Nickel
Miss You
Warrant
Broken Jaw

Radiohead self-released an album again. People are again calling it the model of the future and thebestthingeverohmyGod.

OK, but what about the music?

“Lotus Flower” and “Feral” are The King of Limbs two best songs. At least on first and second listen, so take that for what it’s worth. These two have a sound that make them accessible. While this is not a barometer for musicianship, I’ve never given a band “bonus points” just because they’re famous. If they sound good, they’re good. If they sound like they’re following a trend and phoning it in; like they have no passion or vision – or skill – they’re the opposite of good.

In that vein, Radiohead sound like any other band just getting started, an idea that comes ripe with the positive, the negative and the irrelevant. And yes, Yorke in the Lotus Flower video looks like he’s trying to become the album title. Go with your bliss, man.

A fuller, more informed, review comes later.

This tune comes off the highly-anticipated release Collapse Into Now from the Athens legends. Due in April.

Listening to Michael Stipe – as I have not for a long time – is like seeing your cousin who you used to play with everyday decades down the road and it looks like he’s been run over several times while trying to get across.

This entrant into the American trubadour warble-off is a slow, pleasant, slow, weepy beseeching, mournful, slow song. Did I mention slow? I think anytime you start your song off, “The kids have a new take. A new take on faith,” you’ve entered geezer territory. “The kids” !?!?!?

Now saying all that, I’ve listened to the song dozens of time and there’s a quality in the song that prevents it from dying a quick death. In the story which seems to be about a soldier coming home from war realizing home is forever changed, it’s not too hard to figure out that this same battle-scarred voice carries the song. Still, it’s more soul crush than Orange Crush.

Unfortunately, hearing Stipe made me think of how half the people I like will sound when they’re crooning and in their 60s. It’s a horrific thought. Oh, my heart.

Band Website: REM HQ

Punk roots are turned upside down here, completely exposed to whatever elements these guys want to beat it up with. At times, caressing, at times angry and abusive, Thank You, Happy Birthday reaches out to touch you.

Breaking out into the public consciousness in 2009 with their self-titled debut they’ve clearly evolved with more depth and more experimentation. Even lead singer Matt Schultz’ voice seems better and richer. The unreasonable idea that they had lost interest in performing disappeared (which I fully admit may have just been alive only in my own mind). Luckily, TYHB buries that idea deeper than Rush Limbaugh has soiled his dignity.

Schultz’ siren wail on “Aberdeen” carries the first reminder of the effort these guys put into not sound like everyone else. The great disdain leading into” Indy Kidz” seals the deal. The song highlights the punk aesthetic and timbre of the band saying and playing what they want with the least amount of sugar coating or moderation.

It won’t be to everyone’s liking. Certain songs splinter – like “Indy Kidz” – and you have to have the patience to know they’ll come back eventually. Fans of Sonic Youth will know the feeliing, and I could certainly understand a heavy crossover of genres. If the two bands ever played together the feedback alone could send a message to the aliens that their impending takeover might be better at another time.

“Shake Me Down” is wonderful and “2024″ cranks up the awesome to anthem level. What will you be doing that year? With any luck you’ll be listening to this song’ which like “Sell Yourself” that follows, starts a slow immolation and always, despite the coheseive choruses in both, seems to be ready to explode out of the speakers.

Basically this album is full of win, with each song getting earthier and elements eroding the walls someone might put up to the sound. “Rubber Ball” is like that; a true ballad that comes across as sincere even while we try to figure out exactly what the song might be about. It’s slow and allows everyone to take a breath. “Right Before My Eyes” survives but it made me long for the aggression to return. And it never completely does.

What comes after is like the start of a second act with a different plot; teddy bears are having a picnic and Alice is jumped up in a reefer wonderland. It’s still good but the energy never comes full-force. Ok, that’s not completely true. The monkey chat of the album’s first single “Around My Head” is fun and needs to be played at the zoo to gauge primate reaction.

Who knows if CTE felt a stratocasting typecasting cage closing in around them as they recorded? As so many bands do they might’ve temporarily got a little tired of themselves and their sound. Yet, like a different typeface in a font, it remains them. With the same attitude. The same controlled anger. And the same clever word play and lyrics. It’s what they do best.

“Shake me down, not a lot of people left around. who knows now. softly laying on the ground. Not a lot of people left around. In my life i have seen people walk into the sea just to find memories plagued by constant misery. Their eyes cast down fixed upon the ground. Their eyes cast down. .. i keep my eyes fixed on the sun.”

Once you get past enjoying the sound, their lyrics succeed by being pregnant with meaning. Stories are being told, lives are allowed to unfold. All except the jarring ”Flow.” It’s an almost 8-minute wankathon tacked on at the end of the 12-track release. It’s fun to listen to once but I just found myself stopping it on repeated listens of the CD. “I can’t take this any more any more. It breaks my mind.” Yep that about sums up the tune. It also takes away from all the goodwill built up over the previous 38 minutes.

It takes away some of the momentum, yes. But this was a well-planned party and its good memories will last a long long time.

Band site: Cage The Elephant They are on tour now in support of the album and will appear on Dave Letterman the day the album releases, Jan. 11

TRACK LISTING
Always Something
Aberdeen
Indy Kidz
Shake Me Down
2024
Sell Yourself
Rubber Ball
Right Before My Eyes
Around My Head
Sabertooth Tiger
Japanese Buffalo
Flow

Go ahead, don’t feel bad. Sit back and enjoy the music. New is almost always better than nothing and MICHAEL exists, however it got there, to get you to contemplate … everything.

Pet Peeve Alert
Since it’s right up front as the first song off the album, let’s get the peeve out of the way. “Hold My Hand” is a duet between Michael Jackson and Akon. Don’t announce this negligibly interesting fact in the song. How this abomination of ego got started and stuck I’ll never know but, we know who’s singing. We know, we know, we know. Since so much music started sounding the same and radio DJs became machines, the need to get your name out there increased. So the in-song name check was born. Here’s a tip; radio is no longer the major drive for music of any kind so it’s time for a sleeper chokehold on this abysmal trend.

The song itself is standard fare. Akon doesn’t do anything special yet Jackson’s voice soars through orchestra, basic rhythm and even more basic, beautiful piano to lift it. Entirely listenable, but it could almost be anyone.

On To The Beauty
Speaking of Tupac, as we were, it became so easy to read too much into his lyrics after he died. Every time he sang about the passage of time or the sorrow felt in death or whatever, it hit a twinge of regret buried near the surface. Every song, no matter what it was, brought pain.

“Everybody say that time is borrowed and hanging down your head is no good,” Michael sings in “Keep Your Head Up.” It’s the first song that sounds like the heart of Michael Jackson still beats. Tupac had a song of the same title, and though it came from a different POV the message was the same – don’t let the shit that happens keep you from moving ahead with your life. In both cases it’s advice to a woman with a baby. In both songs, it’s powerful.

My favorite moment of the whole album is the instructions about tempo and melody ahead of “(I Like) The Way You Love Me.” The ballad that follows, hits every note right. Nothing complicated. It’s the purest song here. As well, “Much Too Soon” brings out the strong quality of emotion in Jackson’s voice. It was written in the Thriller-era. A light harmonica, rides the goose bumps created as it plays. In a gentle, resigned spoken delivery, the tune is a jarring, heart-breaking end to the album, which amid gentle strings, ends with the words, “Yes, I guess I learned my lesson much too soon.”

There’s a lot you can read into that – and people will. It’s inevitable. He’s dead. He can no longer answer for himself. Both songs surpass “She’s Out Of My Life” and are right there with “Earth Song.” But it’s amazing that one person performed all four.

There are so many echoes of Michael Jackson through the years in “Behind the Mask” that it becomes a history of his career by sound. It’s got the cool attitude and pace of “Smooth Criminal”; it’s got the old funk he showed early (Rock With You); it’s got “eee-heee,”; it’s got the shouts from “Jam” and the pace of “Black or White”; and it’s got a disco beat halfway through for shit’s sake.

“Another Day” is another song that, surprisingly, works. Lenny Kravitz is a performer whose pedestrian work never did anything for me. But their voices twin well on “Another Day.”

Behind The Scenes
When Michael Jackson was alive, he existed in my mind as someone with a few great songs, and someone trapped by circumstances and his own actions, too, into perpetual distraction from creating music.

Like a politician who suddenly gets a backbone and a voice of conscience once they leave office or no longer have to maintain a front, a pop artist often wants to do more with their success and their words as they get more comfortable in their skin. Whether they succeed, whether they live on or not depends, largely, on their own intelligence.

“This Is It” was the first new song from Jackson in years. It too came alive after his death. And like Chris Rock dropping the microphone it had a sense of complete finality about it. I watched the film of the same title – essentially of how he got ready for his concert – and he become three dimensional in a way that his public persona never quite revealed. You knew he was childlike, yet one never quite believed he wasn’t a manufactured product of others. But he wasn’t. He knew what he was doing and those who met him and performed with him knew this and appreciated it and respected it.

These people who met him discovered their awe from afar was not without merit, which as psychology goes, made them love him more for not letting them down.

A song like “Breaking News” shows this real side, as “Leave Me Alone” did before it. They show a man who couldn’t always just let shit blow through the fan. Sometimes it did stick. This may be controversial but, unlike Britney Spears whining about the media (“Piece of Me”) who covered a truly stupid person and all her pratfalls – and threw herself out there to be examined with a reality show – Jackson was hit down because of accusations that were never proved.

His main fault in the eyes of others was that he was weird, that he didn’t think like them. (People also have an entirely understandable, gut and gutter reaction to the kind of gross conduct for which he was accused, though not found guilty.) Metal bands flip the big fuck you and don’t care that they’re different. It’s part of the genre, it’s part of who they are. But because Jackson was a pop artist, he was expected to conform and be, well, popular.

Songs like “Scream” and “They Don’t Care About Us” were similar but they aren’t self-referential. The 25th Anniversary of Thriller release (iTunes link) also showcases insight into the man behind the public mask. His death propped that door wide open.

At the beginning of the Teddy Riley produced “Hollywood Tonight” after the quiet choir verse, a beat that exists solely in the realm of the King of Pop, fades in. Jackson hits a deeper voice but the chorus gets old fast, like Jackson never could or would.

“Monster” describes the decay of culture and celebrity. Take: It’s a song where Jackson shows the public’s perception of him, as well as his own perception of himself. In the first chorus, he sound checks the tone and timber of the “Off the Wall.” Listen to both songs, it’s there completely. 50 Cent hits a solid rap in the middle of the song; one that contrasts well with Jackson’s voice.

Postscript
The album, like some kind of reeling zombie, sways back and forth between soft and hard, sentimentality and prescience, love and hate, light and dark. It’s dizzying, but there’s still beauty found on both sides of this, now money machine. Too cynical?

Well, perhaps the ultimate sadness is that Jackson has the ability to create moments of purity like almost no one else; a personification of everything sacred, an expression that hits to the very core of what it means to be human.
Yet, no one can hear his name now, because of the celebrity status he achieved – and yes encouraged – without thinking of tragedy. Michael Jackson will never quite escape, “MICHAEL.”

Billed as “Dance-Pop” to my ears it’s more pop than dance, made up of well-crafted songs rather than Ibiza-style club anthems. Musically, comparisons with The Buggles are I suppose inevitable, but I can also see slight elements of late-period ELO when a disco flavour crept into their sound. The overall feel is certainly very 1980s, down to some synth sounds that are either delightfully retro or cheesily dated depending on your point of view. The arrangements are entirely keys and programmed rhythms, but one or two of the actual songs wouldn’t sound out of place on an Asia, or for that matter, a Panic Room album. Certainly the choruses of songs like opener “Shine On”, “Dance To The Music Of Time” or the gorgeous closing ballad “Golden Days” get lodged in the brain as earworms after just a few listens.

With Geoff Downes credited with all the songwriting, Anne-Marie Helder’s only contribution is as lead singer, and she gives a stellar performance on vocals; demonstrating once again what a versatile singer she can be. It’s quite a way from my usual tastes in listening, and an album I probably wouldn’t have given any attention had it not been for the people involved. It’s an enjoyable listen nevertheless.

Like many non-major label releases, it’s available as a pre-order now directly from The New Dance Orchestra website, and will have an official retail release in the new year. It gives no information about international shipping, or even which country it’s shipped from; Paypal billed me in US Dollars but the album turned up within 48 hours posted from a UK address. Don’t know what will happen if you order from the US.

Heart has never been one of my favorite bands; their music stops inspiring me about halfway through a second song.

Red Velvet Car is somewhat different. The band’s first release in six years will for sure make those who heart them happy. And it has more than the usual amount of great moments. Still, half the CD is like a re-arrangement of the deck chairs on, if not the Titanic, the Lusitania (louder bangs).

Nancy Wilson’s screaming intro on “WTF” is one of those anticipated booms: “How much talking does it take to talk about your bad mistake.”. It echoes the rubbed-raw anger in “Black on Black 2″ from their wildly overlooked, Desire Walks On release. Later, too in WTF is the great refrain “One bridge to cross, one bridge to burn.” The guitars here chop down on their notes without “warmbling” carelessly. Warmbling BTW and FWIW is what I use for those who to evoke a warm emotion but stumble or stutter over the attempt.

And it’s the second best track off Red Velvet Car. The video for it – included on the iTunes release – reminds anyone of the grand grit of these gently vicious ladies of rock.

Heart is one of those bands that has become background to the American experience. They’re not quite as well known as Aerosmith or Tom Petty, but sit with a poker-playing group when one of their songs starts and you’ll get a lot of knowing, “Oh yeah, that one” and someone there will surprise you when they tell you how many albums they’ve really released. (For the record – geddit? – Heart has 13 studio albums and about 20 other incarnations, including a Greatest Hits album less than five years after their famiosity began.)

Thirty-four years on from their first album, Dreamboat Annie the Wilson sisters, Ann and Nancy, still show tremendous energy for their craft and their songwriting, though not strong on imagination when it comes to the music itself; true of most long-lived bands.

“Hey You” because it’s simple is the best song of the CD’s 12 tracks. It begins and ends with a folk sound – a voice, an acoustic guitar and a thumping beat. Some songs, like haircuts, don’t need the extra layers to succeed.

“Queen City” again has an intro that raises hope in all boats. Yet, it’s also one of the handful of songs in Heart history where the lyrics just don’t seem to be going anywhere. There’s a pirate chant and an apparent sea-worthiness test.

“Sunflower,” with just the right mix of emotion, tune and simplicity, has everlasting violins that you hear long after the song ends. “Death Valley” brings a country guitar twang, as Nancy wonders aloud about how things could so quickly turn to hell driving through. It’s different and the twang definitely works with the setting – but yeah, I start losing interest and my mind wanders.

“Wheels” has an instantaneously memorable riff, similar to “Barracuda’s driving, rumbling fret frieze. But the rest of the song could be Heart at anytime in their career. “Saffrona’s Mark” (cool title!) has the same sound – I call it Earnest Rock. instead of relying on lyrics and playing well, it tries to push itself ahead based solely on energy in the voice. When the beat behind it is mid-paced, it just doesn’t inspire anything. “Closer To the Sun,” “Sand,” and “Sunflower” fall and fail in the same way, too.

“In The Cool” is a ballad easy to get lost in, again, because of its simplicity. You know, less is more? It’s ends the deluxe version of the CD, and makes me wish for – more

The Songs (Deluxe version)
There You Go
WTF
Red Velvet Car
Queen City
Hey You
Wheels
Saffronia’s Mark
Death Valley
Sunflower
Sand
Closer to the Sun
In The Cool

Clue in to today – this very day – and Through Yourself & Back Again releases to more public anticipation and less trepidation from the foursome (bassist Bret Cohune left the band earlier this year to pursue other interests.). The follow-up is streamed on MSN’s Listening Booth now (or here, too) and people are turning their heads to see the up and coming arrive again. This attention also comes after the earned acclaim for “Where We Belong” released months ago off the album.

There’s such serious beauty in these songs. It hits so many of the right places that no one should want to mess with the sound. Or maybe ….

Well, for me it’s the contrasts on the CD that stand out favorably. “Some Kind of Home” “Run” and “On Your Side” rock out more and it’s refreshing to discover they can do it. These songs don’t have the trademark, almost anguished, Clayton Stroope vocals. Instead, seemingly breaking out of the self-imposed mold of fan expectation, these are less constrained, louder and more listenable the 20th and 30th time they’re played.

Appropriately enough “Cobwebs” is somewhere in between, with vocals less rigid to a form and guitars (Drew Cribley) and drums (Paul Niedermier) working within a tight framework.

Yet time and time again, I find myself craving that the band just go a little fucking nuts. Do a thrash metal song or a duet with Tom Waits or Ke$ha or something different. Rap!!!!. Ok, not rap.

It all seems tied down. Again, it’s all very beautiful and pulls the right strings, which sounds dismissive but isn’t meant to be. Stroope layers tales of love, longing and regret with suitable emotion, but no one shouts wildly or, Max-like, yells “Stop” surrounded by his monsters.

An infinitely worthy second release. I keep on missing the chances to see these guys live. Still plan to, because they’ve all got the instrumental chops to play, to break out, to crack a smile.

THE BAND
Vocals Clayton Stroope
Songwriter / Keyboardist Scott Jason
Guitarist Drew Cribley
Drummer Paul Niedermier

THE SONGS
Love Alone
On Your Side
Some Kind of Home
Where We Belong
While The Candle Still Burns
Moonlight
Cobwebs
Run
Motorcade (So Long, So Long)
Come November
Moonlight (acoustic)

9/15/10 –  8×10 w/ The Bridge – Baltimore, MD
9/16/10 –  The Saint – Asbury Park
9/17/10 –  Beatniks w/ Ten Foot Polecats – Worcester, MA
9/18/10 –  Triumph Brewing – New Hope, PA
9/19/10 –  Larry’s – Danbury, CT
9/20/10 –  Rock Shop – Brooklyn, NY
9/21/10 –  Bug Jar – Rochester, NY
9/22/10 –  Pianos – New York, NY
9/23/10 –  Iron Horse Music Hall w/ The Bridge – Northhampton, MA
9/24/10 –  Cafe Nine – New Haven, CT
9/26/10 –  Phanphest 6 – Millbrook, NY
9/28/10 –  Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC
9/30/10 –  Boiler Room – Asheville, NC
10/1/10 –  Drunken Unicorn – Atlanta, GA
10/2/10 –  Foo Bar – Nashville, TN
10/3/10 –  Cantrell Pub – Fayetteville, WV
10/5/10 –  Headhunters – Austin, TX
10/7/10 –  Plush – Tucson, AZ

LORDS OF THE DANCE
Jimmy Russell, Sean Badders, and Michael Goetz are the lords of dance. If by dance one can be forgiven for meaning boot-scootin’, close-in bar hopping boogie.

These three are Portland, Oregon’s own The Quick and Easy Boys. The band’s strength is its diversity of styles. That means a punk base that also launches shooting sparks of guitar-driven blues, country, roots, alternative swamp rock. Or something.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge in music will hear what they’ve always listened to somewhere in the bands sound. “Breakin’ Love” seemingly absorbs them all in a sparse timeless groove with a sliding tenuous grip on both honky and tonk. “7 Ways” sounds like Earth Wind and Fire trapped in a room with sly and the Family Stone.

And “Take Your Medicine,” the first single of the new album,” is a blood brother to OK Go’s “Oh Lately, It’s So Quiet” sharing a very public clandestine meeting over the river on an earnest falsetto bridge.

The title track is straight punk and I swore at least one buttock pogoed itself of my chair as the sneer ripped across the speakers. There’s straight up Lynyrd Skynryd southern rock sensibility surrounding “The Letter” and a classic rockiness to “Sweet Anticipation.”

“Senorita” pulls from the ghostly essence of David Bowie (who yes has nine lives and so has seven ghosts, so far). Whoever is singing was sitting around a ouija board channeling the Thin White Duke because it’s pitch perfect. And when the singing stops, “I’m Afraid of Americans” echoes in the void.

“You’re always running through my mind, moving like a jag-u-ar. Uhh, she moves [guitar break] … She moves [guitar break]… The way you’re shaking that thing, [guitar break] uh girl you don’t even know. I hear a knock on my door .. but I just couldn’t let go.”

“Daggers” ends the disc with what’s mostly a ballad – and the longest song of the album – with just enough energy to jog along instead of drag its feet. It’s quite bluesy, very good. Though it seems the disc is going to end on a slow note “Daggers” goes cacophonic and crazy.

It’s hard to believe all this divergent sound comes from just the three men, mustached Russell on lead guitar, mustached Badders on bass, and mustached Goetz on drums. Red Light Rabbit builds off the band’s 2008 debut, Bad Decisions With Good People. The influences were there, too, but were less focused, while stuck in a muddier production.

SONG LIST
Foster, i …
Take Your Medicine
Black Panther
Breakin’ Love
7 Ways
Red Light Rabbit
The Letter
Señorita
Sweet Anticipation
Spicy Paella
Daggers

Photo courtesy In Music We Trust