Review: Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

Drew Beringer Oct 26, 2009

I practiced on my sainthood
I gave to one and all
But the rumours of my virtue
They moved her not at all

The lyrics from Leonard Cohen’s 1976 song, “Came So Far For Beauty,” work as the inspiration behind Sainthood, the sixth studio album from twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin. For the last ten years, the Canadian musicians have worn their hearts on their sleeves with their music. Starting out as the little folk duo that could, the sisters have matured into one of the finest indie rock bands today. They’ve beautifully grown into their song writing and Sainthood is a testament to that, as it is the finest work of their career.

Yes, the theme of the album still revolves around relationships, but Sainthood features the best lyrics the sisters have ever written. Continuing the trend set on 2007’s The Con, Tegan and Sara’s lyrics go deeper than the typical relationship drama. The struggle, grief, and bitterness bleed and breathe throughout the album. In one instance, Tegan wants to make a relationship work, only to realize it’s futile on the aptly titled, Cure-tinged “The Cure.” Immediately after, Tegan closes herself off to every one on the punk-flavored “Northshore.” The lyrics throughout Sainthood convey many emotions. Frankly, the conversations here are just more adult. Over the eerie, electronic vibe of “Night Watch,” Sara admits, "I need distance from your body / I deserve this anguish on my house." You’d never hear a line like this even five years ago from this band, displaying the lyrical strides Tegan and Sara have made.

Blake Solomon Oct 22, 2009

The monotony overwhelms. A chorus flies by and I barely look up from my fourth plate of nachos. Some people drink when they’re upset – and even worse, some people write pop songs – but I just eat. Plate after plate after plate of squirrel soup, peanut casserole or pizza. Never has an album begat so many munchies. Every time I feel full or sick to my stomach, another bland “I Miss You REAL BAD” mantra flies by and I must once again stuff my face with that which makes me fat and happy. It might seem like a lazy mechanism, but so is A Rocket To The Moon’s music. There’s no soul, no urgency and definitely no sustainability. I’d be offended that On Your Side existed if it didn’t mean so much pepperoni pizza.

AbsolutePunk Oct 21, 2009

After suffering a disaster of Titanic-like proportions (the actual boat, not the movie), Cartel are hoping to recover from the self-titled backlash with Cycles, an album that proves Chroma was the initial jump, Cartel was the (imperfect) landing and Cycles is the massive bounce back. Full of shimmering pop numbers built on shiny-riffs and colossal production, Cycles is a dubious return to the power-pop that launched the band into the stratosphere. “Let’s Go” shakes off all previous binds and lets the band rock their socks off before ensuring that the slump is now indeed over. While there isn’t anything as riveting or as bombastic as the “Q/A” combo, Cartel prove that keeping it simple is just as wildly spirited as anything else they have achieved.

AbsolutePunk Oct 18, 2009

Ahem.

“So sick, so sick of being tired/And oh so tired of being sick/We’re both such magnificent liars/So crush me baby, I’m all ears.”

These are the words that open Tell All Your Friends, the debut full-length album by the Long Island band Taking Back Sunday. Although the band had been together for some three years by the time of the album’s 2002 release, they had undergone numerous lineup changes—including a new lead singer—and had just recently solidified their sound, with Adam Lazzara mainly at the helm vocal-wise, with support from guitarist and founding member John Nolan. The two also shared songwriting and lyric writing duties on the album.

Tell All Your Friends grabs the listener’s attention from the start. The album begins with feedback before Nolan’s ringing guitar riff and Mark O’Connell’s fast-paced, sliding drum line jolt “You Know How I Do” into action. And then, less than fifteen seconds into the song, Lazzara begins singing the lines given at the beginning of this review. “So sick, so sick of being tired…” However, the listener isn’t just hearing vocals Lazzara recorded for some song because it sounds good. When you listen to the songs on Tell All Your Friends, it really is so much more than entertainment. At the risk of sounding cliché, you feel what Lazzara (or Nolan) is feeling.

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Review: John Nolan – Height

Gregory Robson Oct 17, 2009

At the same time that his high school friend was busy culling one of the year’s most polarizing albums, John Nolan worked quietly in his Lawrence, KS home penning the nine songs that would make up his solo debut Height. The creative force in the piano-based Straylight Run and the man touted as being the genius behind the seminal emo classic Tell All Your Friends, Nolan is well-revered across the country for what many like to think is his Midas touch. So it comes with bated breath and months of anticipation that Height is now released to the world.

Beginning with album opener “Til It’s Done to Death,” the disc begins in a quirky, semi-splashy fashion. What begins as an acoustic number turns swiftly into a dancy, catchy, lo-fi singalong. While the verses are somewhat muddled, the chorus is a surefire crowd-pleaser. Utilizing keys and synth, “Til Its Done to Death,” has a decidedly urban feel. That is to say this sounds like a song written in a London flat, and not the barren plains of Kansas. He continues with “I Don’t Believe You” which has one hand dipped in electronica and another in intimate acoustic pop. The song begins with a supple acoustic guitar before diving headfirst into what is ostensibly a demonstration in dance hall dizziness. Pulsating with a whir of beats, synths and samples, “I Don’t Believe You,” is musically strong, but as an orchestration manages to suffocate the lyrical narrative, resulting in a memorable, melodic and slightly muddled exercise. As expected, the lyrics are terrific, but that kind of thing is always expected from him.

AbsolutePunk Oct 16, 2009

When Mayday Parade’s self-released EP (which would later be picked up by Fearless) dropped in 2006, it seemed even then that bigger things lay ahead for the band. Besides the Fever You Can’t Sweat Out-flavored “When I Get Home You’re So Dead,” which would get a bit of a makeover for their full-length bow A Lesson in Romantics, the songs weren’t quite there yet, and a few tended to drag on a bit (“Three Cheers for Five Years” approached the six-minute mark), but they had that sound, just the right blend of pop sensibility and rock crunch, that suggested inevitable future success.

It hasn’t exactly been a meteoric rise, but with sales of Romantics surpassing 130,000 units, Mayday Parade earned a major label billing for its follow-up Anywhere but Here, as well as a pairing with hitmaking producer David Bendeth. The resulting album retains a little of the sunny pop-punk of their previous releases– album opener “Kids in Love,” which is very much in an All-American Rejects vein, is a good example– but mostly goes in a darker pop-rock direction, reminiscent of Sugarcult’s Palm Trees and Power Lines. It’s generally likable and probably has a better shot at catching on with rock audiences without losing the pop element, though established fans might be a little disappointed that there’s nothing as immediately snappy as “When I Get Home You’re So Dead” or “Jamie All Over.”

AbsolutePunk Oct 4, 2009

Brand New never sent you a lyric booklet for their 2006 release, The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me, and that probably pisses you off.

Brand New doesn’t write “hooky” songs like “Jude Law and a Semester Abroad” or “The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows” anymore, and that probably pisses you off.

Brand New doesn’t like to talk to American press very often, if at all, and that probably pisses you off.

Brand New gave their new songs short, vague titles instead of quirky, long-winded titles, and that probably pisses you off.

Brand New named their new album Daisy, and that probably pisses you off.

Brand New decided to place a fox in a forest on the cover, and that probably pisses you off.

Brand New doesn’t care.

Review: Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

Review: A Rocket To The Moon – On Your Side

Review: Cartel – Cycles

Review: Taking Back Sunday – Tell All Your Friends

Review: John Nolan – Height

Review: Mayday Parade – Anywhere but Here

Review: Brand New – Daisy