She's The Voice In Your Head...

The Ropes - Kill Her Off EP



Wooo! A band from New York that isn't disco punk!

The Ropes are a four piece fronted by a chick with the coolest name in the universe: Sharon Shy!"

YES!

What do they sound like? Well, it's a bit tricky... better take it track by track...

Kill Her Off kicks off with a Talk Talk inspired bassline and a low vocal somewhere between Suzanne Vega and Hillary Duff! A glorious chorus points towards The Sounds as Ms. Shy urges someone to "get over it already." Best track on the EP for sure.

I Stand For Nothing pays homage to the Ramones and The Buzzcocks by way of Transvision Vamp. Sharon Shy (I love saying her name!) goes for a harsher Dresdonian vocal reminiscent of Debbie Harry.

Heaven and Stilts and Water and Headphones could have been recorded by Weezer. They've got that gentle bit going on before breaking into a musically complex and distorted chorus.

Not Technically Alone eases up a bit delving back into the softer vocal ala Blackbox Recorder/ Suzanne Vega and a familiar memory that ends with the sweetest la-la-la-ing i've heard in some time! Again for some reason my mind drifts to Hillary Duff singing this!

And for the record, I am a Hillary Duff fan... so when I say there is something familiar, it's a compliment.

50-million Hillary Duff fans can't be wrong.

Super Duper Sessions!

Sondre Lerche - Duper Sessions



I always felt there was something missing with Sondre Lerche. His voice was a bit too swoony and his guitar a bit too jazzy for his pop orchestrations. It always seemed he was a tad bit out of his element.

But that has all changed.

Sondre Lerche has just released the album he was born to make!

Duper Sessions finds the Norwegian lad transporting the listener to the town of Croonerville! Teaming up with “The Faces Down Quartet,” he unveils 13 songs, 10 of which are stunning originals that “Mr. S.” would have wet himself to sing!

The originals come off sounding so breezy and effortlessly smooth, you get the feeling Lerche probably wrote them in a couple of days.

This is easy listening music for sure, to be placed on the shelf right next to Costello and Bacharach’s “Painted From Memory.”

...but don’t be dis-swayed by that.

This is a grand achievement and there really aren’t many who could pull off releasing an entire album of songs like this, let alone write them! Elvis Costello definitely, The Divine Comedy probably, maybe Aztec Camera, perhaps Joe Jackson… but that’s about it.

Cheers to Sondre for releasing the album that I’ve been waiting for.

If there is any justice in the world, it will be the soundtrack for the next Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan-influenced chick flick.

Move over Harry Connick Jr., there’s a new crooner in town.

Listening To You... Is Trial and Error!

Maximo Park - Missing Songs



I really really really REALLY wanted to love Maximo Park.

I wanted to throw my arms around them and thank them for not trying to be Interpol or Dance Punk or Talking Heads. I had such high hopes…

and then I saw them live.

Aside from Apply Some Pressure, the band just fell flat. Paul Smith’s hair was crap and he wasn’t a proper popstar ala Jarvis/ Damon. The songs lacked the huge choruses I so desired, and I left the show feeling a bit cheated.

But those were MY expectations… the rest of the world saw/heard differently, and Maximo Park went on to have a big year selling out shows all over the world.

So what do I know?!

That being said, I decided to open my mind to Missing Songs, a collection of B-sides, non LP tracks, and demo’s…

and you know what? I didn’t DISLIKE it!

There were actually some nice moments. My Life In Reverse is Pulpy with Smith sounding Jarvis as he sings “Some things are worth the bruises.”

A Year of Doubt might have a dance floor looking eerily similar to one being entertained by This Charming Man… as in a bunch of kids dancing sorta offbeat to a song that, although upbeat, shouldn’t really be danced to!

A less-produced demo version of Apply Some Pressure doesn’t really sound much different than the original, so that’s a go, and the demo of Graffiti almost delivers on the chorus following the breakdown, but ends just a bit too soon.

There’s also a cover of John Lennon’s Isolation that starts out a bit monotonous but becomes terrifically “Clashy” when it gets out of the verse.

So am I ready to forgive and forget my previous attitudes toward Maximo Park?

No, not really.

But I will say that when I finished listening to this CD, I wasn’t feeling cheated...

So perhaps there’s hope.