Reviews I May Have Missed - June (pt. 1)

Since I somehow can’t get my shit together (EVER), I find myself writing reviews for albums that came out last month before it is <i>too</i> late. I know, any later than like, the day after it came out is too late, but what can I do?

Anyways, once a month I write a few short reviews for albums I wanted to talk about, but missed. I should just write something for these CDs in the first place, but that would be too correct and acceptable. I like to push the boundaries and suck a little bit.

Here are some albums I missed in June (before July is over!):

Motion City Soundtrack – ‘Go’

Pop punk outfit Motion City Soundtrack jump back in the saddle for their fifth studio album ‘Go’, only this time, it’s a different sort of horse.

‘Go’ is a good album, let’s just start there. Everything about it is good. Nothing is great, but I really don’t have a whole lot of negative to throw in here. I liked every song, and while some were stronger than others, I just genuinely liked the whole thing.

My only criticism (I am a critic after all) would be that this almost doesn’t sound like MCS. Close your eyes and just listen. Who is that? O.A.R. with a new singer? Jimmy Eat World? Certainly not the poppiest punk rockers we remember from ‘Even If It Kills Me’ and the silly-titled ‘My Dinosaur Life’. ‘Go’ shows me what I didn’t want to know – that there is life after pop punk. The album sees MCS trading some of the power in their pop, and trading it for a more mellow pop rock feel.

Again, don’t get me wrong – the album is far from ‘bad’, but it might feel a little too grown up for them. Or is that just me being uncomfortable with my aging?

Listen to: “True Romance”, “The Worst Is Yet To Come”, and “Timelines”

Daniele Negroni – ‘Crazy’

Negroni was the runner-up in the 9th season of a show called “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (“Germany searches for the superstar” – their American Idol). You know me – I’ll take any opportunity to write about someone who was in one of these shows (apparently so much so that I’ll even write about some kid from Germany).

Negroni has recorded what might be one of the least interesting and most ambiguously characterized post-Idol albums I’ve ever heard. In recent memory, many of the debut albums by people who came out of these singing competitions have been at least interesting. ‘Crazy’ literally has nothing to it that we haven’t heard before, only many times better. At points it feels like he is going for Kelly Clarkson, but he doesn’t have any oomph, nor the voice (not even close – this was #2? Who came in tenth?!). At other times he plays with vocal effects, only that doesn’t work either. So finally by the end he covers “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”, and you just want to tell him to shut up.

‘Crazy’ is available as an import (it is like $30 or something), but I wouldn’t advise you pay anything for this. Hell, I wouldn’t take this if it were free.

Listen to: don’t.
I’m going to have to write a part two, as there are still one or two albums I want to talk about, but I can’t make this too long! Ah!