Cougar Microbes are marching in like army ants…

Over a week last summer I power read through Mötley Crüe‘s ‘The Dirt‘ and Nicki Sixx‘s ‘The Heroin Diaries’. Undoubtedly the glam rock outfit personified the 80′s sex, drugs & rock n roll excesses better than most and on paper this made for scintillating material.

I missed their first coming because I was just too young so perhaps I didn’t witness their relevance within the era. However, with the benefit of hindsight their cock rock schtick has very little in the way of edge and much in the way of comedy, fun to listen to but certainly not to be taken seriously.

I Just hope Damion Saunders doesn’t read this.

TRACK:

Mötley Crüe – Too Young To Fall In Love

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from the new OK Go album. They are a group who offer the occasional moments of brilliance, for example their phenomenal videos for ‘A Million Ways’ and ‘Hear It Goes Again’ (for which we offered an impassioned defence back in April) or their red hot debut single ‘Get Over It’. Then again they are also a group who tend to pad out releases with some filler material.

Firstly, and most importantly, let us note that ‘Of the Blue Colour of The Sky’ is an album title that boasts an impressive four conjunctions in a seven-word sentence. It is also an album which sees OK Go veer away from their squeaky-clean pop structures and express themselves with a creative freedom that moderate commercial success often affords artists. It is a risk which pays off in places; the soulful vocals on ‘Skyscrapers’ are reminiscent of John Lennon’s latter work and shameless 80s throwback ‘End Love’ is a more than listenable offering.

However, despite an abundance of ideas the album is severely lacking in any sense of cohesion and often sounds like nothing more than a mix tape. Nowhere is this more evident than on ‘Last Leaf’, an ill-advised acoustic number which harks back to the obligatory 90s secret track, yet sits right in the middle of the track listing.

Understandably, trying to pull off 90s acoustic, 80s synth and 60’s psychedelic (‘Back from Kathmandu’) all in one release is a tall order. Laying to one side the likability of the band members and the individual merits of the tracks in question, OK Go’s effort sadly has the effect of leaving the listener more than a little disoriented.

‘Of the Blue Colour of the Sky’ is an album which starts off with real promise but seems to run out of steam halfway through and is glaringly lacking in instant ‘hits’. OK Go‘s knack for memorable music videos means they will probably be remembered for a long time to come, however the group who are running out of time to deliver on their exciting early promise.

The band are offering a live mp3 of ‘This Too Shall Pass’ through their website now.

—–

Post by Kenny the Backpacker

—–

TRACKS:

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass

“un-ironic lite rock sound ala Hall and Oates and Prince…”

Press releases can be misleading and slightly worrying at times; I read the above statement and imagined padded shoulders, dodgy quiffs and endless Dynasty/Magnum P.I. re-runs.

In actual fact Tigercity are more than your average 80′s tribute band. Yes, their sound is more than a little bit indebted to the golden age of spandex. Then again there is more than a knowing wink to recent indie successes from the likes of the Killers, Passion Pit and Yacht both in production and arrangements.

The Brooklyn outfit’s album ‘Ancient Lover’ has been flirting with my Ipod ever since its release back in November. Fish out your legwarmers. wear your Reebok pumps, apply copious amounts of mascara, temporarily put your Gameboy away and and dance to Tigercity.

TRACKS:

Tigercity – Fake Gold

Director John Hughes sadly died of a heart attack on Thursday aged ’59. You may remember him for introducing Macaulay Culkin, the spoilt blond kid who divorced his parents. Personally, I thank him for ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ which is my go-to-movie whenever I’m feeling under the weather (most recently a few weeks back with pork sniffles).

Regardless, if you don’t look back at ‘Weird Science’, ‘The Breakfast Club’ or ‘Pretty in Pink’ with a sense of melancholy then you, my friend, are not a true 80s child!

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it”

————

Guest post by Kenny The Conqueror

———–

TRACK:

Simple Minds- Don’t You (Forget About Me)