Review: The All-American Rejects – Sandbox

The All-American Rejects - Sandbox
Adam Grundy

For a band that’s been fairly quiet for the past decade and a half, The All-American Rejects stormed back onto the scene pretty significantly with a DIY approach to the music business, and their viral pop-up house party concerts put them squarely back in the spotlight. Sandbox is the fifth studio album from the band, and their first new album in 14 years, that was capped off with 2012’s Kids In The Street. This record was produced by AAR band members Tyson Ritter & Nick Wheeler, with additional production credits from Scott Chesak. If you’re expecting big hooks and loud guitars, much like was found on Move Along and When The World Comes Down, you might be a little disappointed in the music found on Sandbox. For fans who have stuck around with AAR for this long, Sandbox isn’t as jarring of a listening experience as one would think. Instead, the band’s independent approach comes across as an artist comfortable in their own skin, and one who are still willing to take some risks to further their development.

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Jack Antonoff Talks With Rolling Stone

Bleachers
Jason Tate

Jack Antonoff talked with Rolling Stone about the upcoming Bleachers album:

While making Everyone for Ten Minutes, Antonoff was also working on Kendrick Lamar’s GNX and Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend. And though he often taps the members of Bleachers to play on his other projects, making them both band and Wrecking Crew, he notes that “there’s almost zero sonic crossover” between his own records and those he’s producing for others. The sounds and tones are generally not what inspire him, anyway. 

“If I’m in a room with Kendrick… I think, ‘Oh, the way he’s telling the story about his past is so vivid. I’ve been trying to do a story about my past.’ Or the way Sabrina can vacillate between the most brilliant, sad poetry and comedy — which are really linked — I was like, ‘Maybe there’s a moment I could put a wink in.’ It’s the broad strokes of someone’s honesty or artistry.”