|
Butterfly Child Soft Explosives (HitIt!/Ozone)
MXPX Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo (A&M/PolyGram) Swingin' Utters Five Lessons Learned (Fat Wreck Chords) 22 Jacks Overserved (Side One)
Req Frequency Jams (Skint/Sony)
Oooh. Here's a great idea from a big beat label everybody adores for its carefree brand of frat party big beat-ness: an entire album that sounds like your CD player is broken. Perhaps I'm a Philistine, unable to appreciate the finer textures in life. Perhaps if this album were on some up-the-arse musique concrète label, I would have felt guilty for not understanding "art" and would have listened for more than one track. But this is SKINT! SKINT! Surely this is some mistake?! And if it isn't, all I have to say is: don't do it, guys, please. (Just look what happened to Ninja.) 2/10 (Mireille Silcott)
|
If it's true that most people cling to the music they loved when they were 20 for the rest of their lives, what can truly turn your heart to butter is the very first music you heard. For one Belfastian named Joe (David?) Cassidy, leader of the properly named Butterfly Child, it must have been the early '70s sap pop of forgotten flimsies like Gilbert O'Sullivan (is that the second time I've typed
that name this year?), Tony Burrows (the voice of Edison Lighthouse, First Class, and at least three other one-hit wünders), and Eric Carmen midway between the Raspberries and his simpering solo stuff. If you want cooler contemporaries you could say the High Llamas, Bernard Butler, or the Scud Mountain Boys/Pernice Brothers, but cool won't melt butter. Fly. 9/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
The trio of hardball Christian punkers known as MXPX begin the batting order at the hardcore T-ball tournament. Songs like "Invitation to Understanding" and "Self Serving With a Purpose" don't stray even slightly from the done-to-death new school formula of teen angst and predictable choruses. Despite the presence of producer Steve Kravac (ex-Montrealer) in the bullpen, the boys only manage to get a bunt, but due to their lack of direction run to third base. Next up to bat is Swingin' Utters. These sultans of swat try to bat it out of the park with an almost Pogues-ish edge, but their urge to become the home-run heroes makes them unable to get even a hit. Third batter up is 22 Jacks with designated batter Joey Ramone serving up the lead vocals on "I'll Be With You Tonight." 22 Jacks are unable to hold the bat due to limp wrists as the aging grumpy critic/umpire calls the game due to a drenching downpour of mediocrity. MXPX: strike out, Swingin' Utters: a single, 22 Jacks: strike out (Johnson Cummins) All three bands are at Warped, Saturday, July 25.