New Music from 2/1/2011 - The Go! Team, MEN, and The ACB's

The Go! Team Rolling Blackouts  - The six-person high energy indie/noise rockers from the UK release their third album and first since 2007's Proof of Youth which reached all the way to #1 on the UK Indie charts.  This album features a handful of guest vocalists from other indie acts, the most famous being Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki on "Secretary Song."   Their generally fast tempo music features real and synthesized instruments with lots of samples mixed in and an almost urban (sometimes called "double dutch") chanting style on the vocals.

The album opens with the fast pace "T.O.R.N.A.D.O" which, if that is an acronym for something, I couldn't tell what it could be for.  In any case, it is a real attention grabber to open the album with a heavy beat, loud horn (or, more likely, synthesized horn) work, and the previously mentioned double dutch vocal style to provide a relentless and restless energy.  Next up is "Secretary Song" which has a less invasive beat that reminds me of an up tempo j-pop song.  "Apollo Throwdown," which I'm guessing has something to do with the space race, has a more celestial sound which, obviously, would fit in considering the subject matter of the song.  There's also two purely instrumental songs "Bust-Out Brigade" and "Super Triangle" which provide nice interludes to the high energy album although I thought they should have been spaced farther apart from one another. 

Overall, it's an entertaining and fun album from The Go! Team.  Most impressively, they are able to echo past genres without venturing beyond their own sound on many of the tracks to showcase the songwriting growth of the band.  In addition to "Apollo Throwdown" mentioned above, "Ready to Go Steady" has an underlying 50's doo-wop style but it's still instantly recognizable as The Go! Team song.  No modern rock band loves to play with the consonance and dissonance in their harmonies, blend styles that normally do not pair well, and use a singing style not found elsewhere in modern music like The Go! Team to create really high energy music.  This album is no exception. 

Score:  8.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "T.O.R.N.A.D.O"  [sample it below] and "Apollo Throwdown"

MEN Talk About Body - MEN is the new project by J.D. Samson of the feminist electropunk band Le Tigre.  As you might expect with Samson doing a lot of the writing, the songs generally have a socially conscious slant.  This band's sound has more of an electropop/dancepop feel than you would find on a Le Tigre album with house-influenced beats and heavy synth work although guitars and other, more traditional rock instruments are still present on most of the 13 track album. 

The album opens with "Life's Half Price" which has a quick tempo and light electric guitar work although with the repeated chorus of "Life's half price/ for suckers in love" it definitely has a deeper meaning that the up tempo tune would have you initially believe. "Off Our Backs" is a catchy synth/electro pop song with a get-stuck-in-your-head fast singing style.  That is followed by the best named track on the album, "Credit Card Babie$," although I found the song slightly boring as it progressed with its monotonous tune and monotone vocals wearing thin by the end of the track.  "Who Am I to Feel So Free" and "If You Want Something" have a more funk/world-influenced sound.

Talk About Body is an album I enjoyed considering that I am an average Le Tigre fan at best. Many of the songs have a very up tempo beat like you would usually find on a Le Tigre song but the album skews towards a heavier dancepop feel.  Although the music is more universally accessible, the vocal work on this album is nowhere near near as good as what you would find on the more recent Le Tigre albums with less range being exhibited.  Still, it's an album that is able to give its social messages while still managing to create, for the most part, fun music. 

Score:  7/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Life's Half Price" and "Off Our Backs" [sample it below]

The ACB's Stona Rosa - The soft rocking jangle pop quartet from Kansas City, MO release their second album.  Truth be told, I'm a little confused as to the actual release date of this album.  You can currently purchase both digital and disc copies of the album from the band's website (as well as stream the entire album) so I'm going to say the release date has already passed but I could only find the band's first album listed on places like Amazon and iTunes so I'm not 100% sure about that statement.  To really confuse things, AOL is listing this week as the album's drop date.  In any case, let's see if the music presented to us is worth all this release date confusion.

The album opens with the melodic and guitar driven "Italian Girls" which has a gentle pop sound buoyed by very distinctive, alternative-influenced vocals that are constant over the entire album.  Next up is "Street Fighter II" which is a song with a simple but catchy melody and a hilarious narrative about spending the night with his girl and then sneaking out of bed after she has fallen asleep to play videogames.  "Be Professional" features acoustic guitar work in a very toned down song with minimal instrumentation.  "Boy Like Me" opens with vocals sung in a higher tenor to create a more fun atmosphere and then adds a light, jaunty melody to create pleasing summer pop song.  "My Face" employs a faster tempo and a nice hook for a song that will get caught in your head.

Overall, it's a band that showcases a lot of potential on the album with some inventive songwriting and enchanting alternative-style vocal work.  There's no questioning that there are a number a very good tracks scattered about the album.  However, almost all of the songs on the album could use some polish and better production work to really make the music pop.  The band gives us some good jangle/power pop music on the album but it could really benefit from a more lush and fuller sound that could have been achieved during post production.  A band to keep an eye on in the future because if they can create songs that are this pleasing with average production work, one can only imagine how good they could be in the future working with the right team of producers.

Score:  7.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Boy Like Me" [sample it below] and "My Face"