Cooler Kids”Punk Debutante”
By Leslie Branton Revelry Writer
For those who admit to watching the Disney Channel, the song “All Around the World (Punk Debutante),” appeared on the soundtrack to “The Lizzy McGuire Movie.”
The video of the song received so heavy a rotation on the Disney Channel that it became ingrained in our minds. Comprised of lead singer Sisely Treasure and Kaz Gamble (better known to club enthusiasts as DJ Kazimir), the band looks like the White Stripes dressed in full 1980s regalia.
This New York-based band produced an album completely devoid of any substance whatsoever.
Songs like “Viva la Fever” play to the bubble gum preteen crowd with their repetitive lyrics and simplistic musical arrangements.
The band attempts to fuse techno beats with ABBA-style vocals along with a 1980s retro image.
The word punk appears in the title, but the album would be more suitably called “Pop Debutante.”
However, the album is upbeat and requires no thinking or emotional response.
Although not quite booty-shaking music, the songs are catchy and fun, if taken in small doses.
If new wave ever hits the mainstream again then this band will be first in line for success.
Right now they simply appear flaky and juvenile compared with the jaded music scene of the moment.
Those who really want mindless entertainment should watch “SpongeBob Square Pants” instead. [C-]
Kings of Leon “Youth & Young Manhood”
By Mark F. Bonner Revelry Writer
This record is old-school southern swagger rock music from the sons of a pentecostal preacher man.
The Kings of Leon are releasing one of the most anticipated debuts of the year with their “Youth & Young Manhood.”
These guys look like a slice out of the Dukes of Hazard with tunes as crooked as the Mississippi Delta to back them up.
Inevitably, the Kings are going to get pigeonholed as a Southern boogie Strokes or even a complete rip off of Creedence Clearwater Revival, but there’s something here those bands can never match – singer Caleb Followill’s fervored porcupine voice.
He’s as visceral as a rusty knife singing lyrics like “I know all about the little games you play/ Shakin’ your apple right in my face/ Only when you know that I’m beggin’ for a bite/ Time on me is wasted time.” There’s an unsteadiness and uncertainty in his cracking and violent voice, as if he is making the lyrics up as he goes along.
The band as a whole is a remarkable chain-smoking brilliance that incorporates classic rock double-time drum cadences along with a bar room band mentality.
The Kings of Leon are the new bible-belt, bible-tearing ragamuffin children of the Southern rock heritage. [A+]
Alien Ant Farm “truANT”
By Mark F. Bonner Revelry Writer
In 2002, Alien Ant Farm emerged from two things: the obscurity of an overcrowded California rock scene courtesy of their quirky cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” and the wreckage of a near-fatal bus accident.
Many suspected the band was through, considering the severity of singer Dryden Mitchell’s broken neck – an injury that was severe enough for him to wear a halo to limit his head movement.
But exactly a year after the accident, the band completed the final mix for “truANT” – their best work to date.
What makes their new work so great isn’t the fact that they had Dean and Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots at the production helm or even that they had Brendan O’Brien (Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam) do the final mix. Somehow within the band’s incredible year they learned how to write good songs, something no production team can improve with studio magic – unless your name is Britney.
Tunes like the rough rider “1000 Days” or the flamenco-inspired “Tia Lupe'” are songs most rock acts don’t write until the third or fourth album, if ever.
This time around, there’s no souvenir cover song to carry the album in sales because it doesn’t need it.
However, don’t get carried away, the band hasn’t become The Beatles.
Considering the uninspired album artwork and a few lame lyrics such as in “Quiet,” which begins, “I’ll be the bumble bee behind you, baby.”
There still is room for improvement for Alien Ant Farm, but they are easily the overachievers of the year with “truANT.” [B+]