Rocket From the Crypt “Live from Camp X-Ray”
Vagrant Records 1 Paw
Halloween’s coming up, just the holiday for label Vagrant
Records, which does its part year-long with a limitless wellspring
of horrific offerings.
It’s not difficult to conclude that Vagrant’s lineup
has been a putrid stain on the musical world for years now. Take
one look at the lineup”“such uninspired groups as The Get Up
Kids, Saves the Day and Dashboard Confessional pervade airwaves and
stereos like a virus. The best thing to say about the label is that
it is, at least, pretty consistent.
Rocket From the Crypt has usually been the exception, but the
mediocre “Live from Camp X-Ray” plods along without any
real sense of direction or urgency. The band has walked a fine line
with the use of horns, attempting to enhance its sound without
disintegrating into a second-rate ska band. On its latest album,
however, the horns only enhance the monotone and uninspired mood.
For an album that clocks in at under 30 minutes, it still sounds
too long for the amount of musical ideas contained.
As it stands, frontman John Reis’ side band Hot Snakes has
had the better year ““ “Suicide Invoice” rolls
along with more energy and pure punk spirit.
-Andrew Lee
Badly Drawn Boy “Have You Fed the Fish?” XL
Recordings Ltd. 4 Paws
It’s good to see Badly Drawn Boy hasn’t lost his
sense of humor, or his ego.
The British pseudo-pop star’s new album “Have You
Fed the Fish?” is a pompous, overblown, cheeky romp, and
those are all good things. “Fish” is an incredibly fun
look at BDB’s personal struggle of balancing his family life
with the ups and downs of being a celebrity.
This might seem like a pretentious basis for a song cycle, and
it is, but BDB pulls it off with such style, you can’t help
but smile. Fans who were looking for a return to the lo-fi
reflection of his BDB’s beloved debut album “The Hour
of Bewilderbeast” don’t get their wish with
“Fish.” This has more in common with the slicker
production of BDB’s songs for the “About A Boy”
soundtrack and abounds with funky electric guitars and
basslines.
The key to BDB’s success is his ability to craft songs
around sweet and uplifting melodies, and he maintains that
tradition even while moving forward with his overall approach.
Despite the fact that the second half of the album gets a little
slow (it might have benefited from cutting one or two of the
fifteen songs) this is an immensely pleasing album.
-Anthony Bromberg