SOUNDCHECK

The Higher, Air, !!!, Southern Culture on the Skids


The Higher


On Fire

(2 1/2 stars) The Higher are on their second go-'round as Vegas' next big thing, and this time they're obviously determined to make it stick. Their 2005 debut, Histrionics, on the now-defunct Fiddler Records, made barely a dent outside of Las Vegas, and their sound was very much in keeping with the pop-punk standard. Two years later, they're on Epitaph, one of the most powerful indie labels around, with a revamped sound that's being pushed as "Saves the Day meets Justin Timberlake." That's an intriguing, ambitious comparison, so it's disappointing that the band's new album, On Fire, sounds much more like Sugar Ray.

Listen to Fall Out Boy's new single, and you'll discover that what the emo kids want to do now, apparently, is dance, and there's a lot of rhythm on On Fire, although much of it is still augmented by crunchy—if heavily processed—guitars, and the sounds of pop-punk and emo are recognizable throughout. The songs that travel farther afield from power chords and pounding drums, however, are not innovative genre mash-ups, but rather cheesy, silly pop tunes; "Can Anyone Really Love Young" could be mistaken for Sugar Ray's "Every Morning," and "Darkpop" contains the meaningful refrain "Girl, you know, oh yeah, yeah."

Frontman Seth Trotter also doesn't have the pipes to pull off real R&B or soul—his whiny, nasal voice is more Tom DeLonge than Justin Timberlake. He's not as angsty as My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, but he's still preoccupied with girl problems—mostly how to get into their pants, er, hearts. "I'd rather make you come than go," he sings on the icky, pseudo-seductive hidden track. Even Justin couldn't pull that one off.



– Josh Bell


Air


Pocket Symphony

(2 stars) This French ambient duo has produced some great music in the last decade. "Ce Matin La," particularly as used in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, is as beautiful and dreamy as any instrumental pop song ever recorded. But their music clearly has built-in limitations, and the languid beats and "Tubular Bells"-like piano arpeggios are starting to feel saggy. There are pretty moments spread across this Nigel Godrich-produced album—"Night Sight," the closing electric piano instrumental, is a mere wisp of sound, and pleasant enough—but such moments are fleeting, and sans actual visuals, their "cinematic" approach to pop just feels like, well, dead air.

Also, the duo's vocals, never a strength (initially this didn't matter—words were just vowel sounds, and part of the overall sonic texture), are now a liability. Listening to "Napalm Love" and "Once Upon a Time," the overall impression is that they compensate for a lack of singing chops by softly intoning their way through uninspiring melodic phrases. It's all whispery, existentialist dread, and frankly, I'm stifling yawns. Even guest vocalists Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) and Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) fail to ignite any sparks. Cocker, mooing his way through the hangover that is "One Hell of a Party," is a painful listen indeed. Hannon, meanwhile, takes the lead on a track entitled "Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping." Insert your own punchline. I'm tired, and I want to go to bed.



– Scott Woods



!!!


Myth Takes

(2 stars) Grooving madly to the butt-quaking rhythms of "Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard (A True Story)"—the 2003 breakout single from Brooklyn-based collective !!!—it's easy to overlook its dual function as a manifesto on the politics of modern dancing. Over nine pulsating minutes, frontman Nick Offer attacks New York's antiquated cabaret laws, likens the city to fictional Footloose 'burb Belmont, Iowa, urges Manhattan's popular ex-mayor to get his freak on and wonders aloud whether even Richard Nixon might have had more soul. Offer and his seven bandmates, typically referred to as "Chk Chk Chk," separate themselves from the dance-rock horde when they accompany their percussive roof-party beats with that sort of consequential message, as they did again on "Pardon My French" and "Hello? Is This Thing On?," two cuts from 2004 LP Louden Up Now. Sadly, though, that approach doesn't carry over to third album Myth Takes, a 10-song set that feels more fleeting than it does fun. "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" does attempt to have a point, but its comparison between Roman emperor Nero and American neo-cons fails to drive home its point. And though "Heart of Hearts" and "Yadnus" stand out somewhat, they do so on the strength of infectious melodies rather than memorable lyrics, with most of the disc's words coming across as disposable as its horseplayed—"mistakes," but with a lisp, get it?—title.

– Spencer Patterson



Southern Culture on the Skids


Countrypolitan Favorites

(4 stars)

Southern Culture on the Skids are many an urban hipster's guilty pleasure, because they let you listen to country music while maintaining credibility with the white-belt set. If you douse your scrambled eggs in ketchup when no one's looking, and you drank PBR before the clubs started selling it for five bucks a can, you might be a SCOTS fan.

If so, Countrypolitan Favorites is right up your alley, as the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, trio has churned out another toe-tapping trailer-park masterpiece, melding country and rock with blues and bluegrass in their own unique style. They're adept at putting country spins on rock favorites, covering The Kinks ("Muswell Hillbilly"), T. Rex ("Life's a Gas") and The Who ("Happy Jack") in this set.

But they save their sharpest cuts for their own backyard, as a wicked steel guitar and wailing Mary Huff vocals burnish Wanda Jackson's "Funnel of Love," a rockabilly makeover masks the desperation of "Oh Lonesome Me," and yodeling background vocals carry the buoyant "Wolverton Mountain."

So iron your favorite bowling shirt, pour another moonshine martini and hop on the flatbed of the SCOTS bandwagon. The guy in the Rev. Horton Heat T-shirt will scoot over and make room for you.



– Patrick Donnelly

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