New Music Reviews - 5/24/2011 - Friendly Fires, Foster the People, and Mitch Winehouse

Friendly Fires Pala - The three person dance/pop band from St. Albans, England release their sophomore studio album.  The bandmates all met at an early age at school and formed their first band together at the age of 14.  If you're not familiar with the band's first album, you might know the song "On Board" which was featured in a Nintendo commercial for the Wii Fit or the song "White Diamonds" which was featured on an episode of "Gossip Girl."  That self-titled debut album went on to reach double-gold in the U.K.  Their new album, released last week in the British Isles, is already ranking at #6 on the U.K. charts. 

"Live Those Days Tonight" is the first single off the album and it opens the album with a fast paced breakbeat beat pushing a very modern sounding dancepop song with an easily danceable Euro feel.  "Hawaiian Air" is another song with non-standard syncopation that slowly builds and layers on additional instruments and electronic sounds that did emulate the feeling of a plane taking off with each new layer added leading to a very soaring sound.  "Show Me Lights" has a greater Progressive House sound although I felt the vocal style was a bit too heavy for the song causing a noticeable disconnect between the two. 

Pala is a very consistent album from beginning to end that has a good overall sound but is hurt by a lack of any really standout singles.  The band's dancepop music will definitely appeal to both new and aging club kids with its Eurodance sounding arrangements coupled with a very Brit-sounding New Wave vocal style but the lack of a truly outstanding single will mean minimal crossover to people who weren't already fans of Eurodance or British New Wave.  I wouldn't call the album disappointing by any means but it also never shines as brightly as I would hope either.  A good album if you're in the mood for it but the music never transports you to another place like a really great album should.

Score:  7/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Hawaiian Air" [sample it below] and "Blue Cassette" 

Foster the People Torches - Foster the People is a Southern California rock band that is currently getting a decent amount of radio airplay with their hit single "Pumped Up Kicks."  That track, which has already ranked as high as #9 and #1 on the U.S. and Canadian Rock charts, respectively, can be found on this debut album.  The music given to us is in the electronic-rock/alternative-dance genres with vocals present on every track.  So let's find out if this trio can create other songs that are as catchy and popular as their hit single.

The super catchy "Pumped Up Kicks" is the second track off the album and it is an ideal summer pop song with its catchy hook and light, jaunty electric guitar and synthesizer-heavy melody which actually helps cover up the somewhat dark lyrics ("All the other kids with the pumped up kicks/you'd better run, better run, outrun my gun"). "Waste" is a slower tempo song sounding like a 80's New Wave song with more modern, electronic touches in what ends up being the most ballad-sounding track on the album.  "I Would Do Anything" is a more standard pop song on 4/4 beat with a more common arrangement and a few typical pop tricks (e.g. lots of repeated "oh-la-la" in the chorus, etc.).  "Houdini" features another very catchy hook although this time it's well paired with a more Trance-like beat and melody to easily create one of the more enjoyable and danceable songs from the album.

Torches is a well-timed summer release that is much better than your average debut album.  The album does have a number of consistency problems with some really catchy electro pop/rock songs being bookended by some very generic tracks.   The real strengths of the album are the high amount of energy present on most of the tracks and the very catchy hooks found on the best tracks.  The band is also able to match the glamrock-lite vocal style of frontman Mark Foster with the raver-pop style of the music effortlessly without compromising any enjoyment taken from listening to the melodies.  If you're already familiar with and like their single "Pumped Up Kicks" then do yourself a favor and pick up the entire album.  If you're not familiar with that song, give a listen to the song below and judge for yourself.

Score:  8/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Pumped Up Kicks" [sample it below] and "Houdini"

Mitch Winehouse Rush of Love - The papa of the eclectic and eccentric Amy Winehouse releases an album of jazzy crooner standards.  What, you didn't know Amy Winehouse's dad was a singer?  That's probably because Mitch Winehouse's day job was as a taxi cab driver until he recently somehow got a record contract *cough*nepotism*cough*.  (At least Mitch Winehouse is wise enough to recognize on his website that he knows he wouldn't be in this position if not for his daughter.)  Now let's find out if Mr. Winehouse sounds as good on vinyl (or, in my case, on MP3) as he thinks he sounds while singing in the shower. 

I won't go into an in-depth song-by-song analysis here since all of the tracks are faithful covers of classic lounge songs.  Among the songs Mr. Winehouse covers are some Frank Sinatra hits ("Please Be Kind," "Day By Day," "How Insensitive"), a Harry Belafonte classic ("Close Your Eyes"), a couple of memorable songs from Billie Holliday and Jackie Wilson ("You Go To My Head" and "I Apologize," respectively), plus a couple of standard songs that were sung by multiple performers back in the day like Sinatra, Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dean Martin ("April in Paris").  All of the songs have a lounge-y/jazzy backing music and are performed in a manner that is close to, if not a note-for-note parroting of, the original versions on this 11-track release. 

Within the first few seconds of listening to Rush of Love it is easy to discern that Mitch Winehouse did not earn his recording contract solely on the silkiness of his voice.  In fact, despite the various digital tricks producers can use these days, his voice comes across as quite amateurish on many tracks with his lack of formal training quite noticeable.

At its brightest moments (if you can call them that), the vocals on Rush of Love sound like Frank Sinatra's or Tony Bennet's voices on their last/latest releases where their voices were mere shadows of how they sounded in their primes.  However, even when those two lost their classic crooning tenors, they still knew how to carry a tune which Winehouse fails to do on a number of tracks (I cringe every time I hear Mr. Winehouse's version of "I Apologize").

At the very least, Winehouse could have stolen a page from his daughter when she covers a song and did some cool or interesting things in the song's arrangement.  Instead, with the melodies being nearly identical to the originals, the songs just invite extremely unfavorable comparisons to the versions we know so well. 

Score:  1/10 (I gave it a point because the backing music is competently performed)
Song(s) to Sample:  None