Band makes loneliness sound good
Blackpool Lights
This Town's Disaster
Available Now
I'll admit it. I was a little skeptical about Blackpool Lights. It seemed like an obscure name with even more obscure album art - a cartoon rendering of a burning town. Bad marketing approach? Sure. Good album? Definitely.
The brainchild of former Get Up Kids singer and guitarist Jim Suptic, Blackpool Lights will soon be emerging from this perceived obscurity and jumping into the pool of emotional rock.
This Town's Disaster may be characterized with the tired but true themes of broken relationships and the subsequent loneliness, but there's a certain edginess that comes through the raspy vocals and harder guitar chords.
The lyrics are much smarter than the average emo-rock band, which only adds to the overall catchiness of their songs. The harder sound, coupled with the sensitive lyrics, makes for a diverse mix that the emo genre hasn't seen before. Personally, I never listened to the Get Up Kids before they disbanded, but if they had a sound akin to Blackpool Lights, the music world is at a loss.
I'd recommend Blackpool Lights to anyone who wants a softer version of Green Day or wishes Fall Out Boy was a little bit more punk.
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If you like Blackpool Lights, you might also enjoy:
Sound the Alarm - Saves the Day
The Gold Record - Bouncing Souls
Diary - Sunny Day Real Estate
Group hits mainstream without the cheese
Dashboard Confessional
Dusk and Summer
Available Now
Every emo-music lover and bleeding heart should love Dashboard Confessional's new album, Dusk and Summer, but they shouldn't have a long attention span. Only 10 tracks long at a total of 40 minutes, D.C. takes listeners on a brooding journey of the not-so-carefree days of summer.
While many of the songs seem like they could - and probably will - be used as dramatic background music on "Laguna Beach," "The Hills" or any other MTV reality soap opera for that matter, the clean acoustic guitar sounds and melancholic lyrics make for an enjoyable and relaxing album. The album is able to walk that delicate line between being mainstream and being too cheesy and formulized, as what happens to most contemporary music.
One song that is sure to have listeners either cringing or singing along is "So Long, So Long," which is a duet with the Counting Crows' Adam Duritz. It's slower, a bit sentimental and one of the best tracks on the sophomore album. However, naysayers will characterize this song and the majority of the album as the final nail in lead singer Chris Carrabba's coffin of a boy-band sound.
If you want something a little deeper-sounding this summer, try Dashboard Confessional.
If you like Dashboard Confessional, you might also enjoy:
Louder Now - Taking Back Sunday
Decemberunderground - AFI
How to Save a Life - Fray
Trio departs from signature sound
Keane
Under the Iron Sea
Available Now
I thought that Keane had gone by the one-, maybe two-, hit-wonder wayside with its widely popular hits off of the 2004 Hopes and Fears album. Unique in that the band relies only on drum beats and synthesized guitar chords, Keane was then going against the pop-culture grain. I figured after its Grammy nomination, this Brit trio would fall into obscurity.
I was wrong.
In its recently released album, Under the Iron Sea, Keane meanders from mainstream pop by delving into more electronic sounds through electric pianos and analogue synthesizers. The band's first single, "Is It Any Wonder?", sounds like it came straight from a vintage 1980s dance collection, but it is a nice change of musical style nevertheless. However, with so much of a throwback to the '80s, perhaps the album should be titled Under the Iron Sea of Aquanet.
Keane keeps its original sans-guitar format. But with all the electronic beats, the guitar-like sounds are ever present. For a band that prides itself on the lack of a guitar structure, to have synthesizers give the illusion of them seems a little counterproductive.
Unfortunately, expect more techno and electric than regular acoustic piano on Under the Iron Sea.
If you like Keane, you might also enjoy:
Eyes Open - Snow Patrol
Loose - Nelly Furtado
St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley
