Second Guess the Critic: SMACKDOWN! Round 3

[bloop]

Brendan:   Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, The Dandy Warhols
bloop:  The Fray, The Fray
Josh:  I Was a King, I Was a King
murlough:  Furr, Blitzen Trapper
plvarona:  Ordinary Dreamers, Group 1 Crew

Guesses by Friday, then reveal Saturday.

Next round, let's go with the home state idea.  Virginia . . . hmm.  Hurry up, Neko.

Josh and I seem to be going with the self-titled album theme this round.

[murlough23]

Next round, let's go with the home state idea.  Virginia . . . hmm.  Hurry up, Neko.

I'm half-tempted to do Steve Martin's new banjo album, just to throw y'all a curveball. (Before his latest gig on SNL, I had no idea that playing the banjo was a staple of his stand-up comedy performances in the 70's. See my avatar regarding the excuse for my ignorance.)

[Josh]

Brendan: 4
Bloop: 1
Murlough: 4
Phil: 3

[Aaron]

I'm not really playing but this selection of albums is interesting so I'll give guesses


Bren: 3
bloop: 2
Josh: 3
murlough: 4
plvarona: 3

[NinjaRob17]

Brenden: 4
Bloop: 2
Josh: 4
Murlough: 4
Plvarona: 4

[ajyouthguy]

Brenden: 4
Bloop: 1
Josh: 4
Murlough: 3
Plvarona: 3

[Brenden]

Bloop: 1
Josh: 3
Murlough: 4
Plvarona: 3

[murlough23]

Brendan: 3
bloop: 1
Josh: 3
plvarona: 3

[plvarona]

Brendan: 3
bloop: 1
Josh: 4
murlough: 4

[bloop]

3 for all, except murlough, who I think will go with 4.

[bloop]

I'm going to have to delay the game.  My wife's father is in the hospital.  We'll probably be back Sunday.

[murlough23]

I'm going to have to delay the game.  My wife's father is in the hospital.  We'll probably be back Sunday.

Yikes. Hope that all works out OK.

Should we still post our ratings tomorrow as planned? Or do you intend to give us extra time to guess?

[bloop]

I'm back, and it all worked out as well as it could.  I even got to see a concert out of it all, and you know I very rarely do that.

Start posting your ratings now.  When everyone has it in, we'll start the new round and go from there.

Theme:  Music from your state.  Hopefully you were able to find something.

[murlough23]

bloop, I'm glad everything worked out OK with your family emergency. I guess this was just the week for that sort of thing (I haven't yet found out what happened with mine).

I wanted to like Blitzen Trapper, because it came with a recommendation from Josh. So I listened, and maybe I was expecting pastoral folk/rock music akin to Fleet Foxes or something - I wasn't ready for it to be a little more primal and sometimes experimental than that. It jumped around a bit stylistically, and sort of reminded me of an overview of the discography of a poor man's Wilco. As a result I had trouble getting my bearings with Furr for a while. Finally the amusing boy-raised-by-wolves story of the title track, plus a few other catchy bits in songs like "Saturday Night" and "Lady on the Water" started to get my attention. Now I've absorbed most of the album, and find that my reaction to it is favorable. I still think "Love U" is just about the most irritating thing ever, and I have trouble getting past the disjointedness of "Echo/Always On/EZ Con", plus maybe a few other tracks don't really stand out, but I enjoy the album as a whole. I give Furr a B-, or 4 stars.

Next round's gonna be a tough one in terms of picking an album to review, which is hilarious, because I only come from the most populous state in the Union. The problem is that pretty all of the California bands on my watch list are still at least few months away from putting out new albums. So I've had to fall back on side projects and other acts related to artists I like when looking for options.

Option A is to review something by Gwen Stefani, since No Doubt is dragging their feet. I'm not sure I like that option.

Option B is to review Foxboro Hot Tubs, the side project of Green Day. I might be remotely interested...

Option C is to ask whether Calexico counts as a "California artist". I assumed they were actually from Calexico, which is the California mirror image of Mexicali, but they're actually from Tucson, Arizona. However, the founding members of the band met in L.A. So, does that count?

(California artists who I wish had their new albums out already: Future of Forestry, Green Day, Switchfoot, Vienna Teng, Thrice, Sara Watkins, No Doubt, Rock Kills Kid. Dang, I wish I had saved Fiction Family for this round.)

[bloop]

I feel no need to be overly strict with our theme, so I don't have any issue with doing Calexico.

[murlough23]

I feel no need to be overly strict with our theme, so I don't have any issue with doing Calexico.

Cool. I will review their latest album, Carried to Dust.

[Brenden]

This album was a surprise. I had heard a few Warhols songs and found them quirky and fun, if a little fluffy at times. This album, however, shows them trying harder to give depth and a scathingly satirical take on Hollywood and celebrities in general. It's a nice attempt, and on songs like Solid and Horse Pills, it succeeds beautifully. However, moments like the opening trilogy (Godless, Mohammed, Nietzsche) is pretty dull and plodding, without a strong hook or anything to really draw the listener in besides the soundscape, which isn't bad, but drags on for way too long. This is revisted later in the album, and the rest is hit and miss. There are moments of brilliance here, but the album as a whole isn't cohesive and there is little that makes me want to listen to it much. Ultimately, I'd give this album a C, which for this game is 3 stars.

For the next round, I'm doing Jakob Dylan's solo album, Seeing Things.

http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Things-Jakob-Dylan/dp/B0016CGNZW

[murlough23]

Good thing none of us are from Alaska; we'd pretty much be limited to Jewel.

[bloop]

We'd just allow people to play "6 degrees" with their state in that event.

[Josh]

I Was a King's album is a sugar rush of pop hooks, gonzo guitar work, and a clattering, noisey production that reminds me of the best moments from early Pavement. It's a ton of fun, and I like it more every time I listen. I'll go with 4 stars.

Next round: From the great state of North Carolina, Foreign Exchange, and their most recent album, Leave it all Behind.

[Aaron]

I Was a King's album is a sugar rush of pop hooks, gonzo guitar work, and a clattering, noisey production that reminds me of the best moments from early Pavement. It's a ton of fun, and I like it more every time I listen. I'll go with 4 stars.

Next round: From the great state of North Carolina, Foreign Exchange, and their most recent album, Leave it all Behind.

Interesting take on the I Was A King.  I was bored overall with the album and felt it wasn't really coherent.  Interesting how we hear differently.

[plvarona]

This time I'll forgo my usual drawn-out reporting method because I've been sick all day, but I don't want to hold up the game either.

Musically, I was pleasantly surprised with Group 1 Crew's Ordinary Dreamers.  Many of you know urban pop is not my favorite genre, yet more often than not, this was a fun CD musically.  Especially standing out were "I See You", a throwback to the '60's Motown girl groups, and "Keys to the Kingdom", an entertaining mix of rock and urban (which is also the current single.)  However, the CD isn't so fun when I start listening to the lyrics, which are so bad in some places that it actually detracts from my enjoyment of the CD.  Too many times, I kept telling myself "I wish I didn't hear that."

Overall, the CD is mostly fun musically, but subpar lyrics keep me from giving it any more than a mild recommendation.  I give Ordinary Dreamers a "C+", which translates to 3 stars.

For the next round, I'll pick an artist from Louisiana, since I live there now.  My choice is Marc Broussard's Keep Coming Back.  (Myspace page - first three songs on the player are from the album.  I will try to find clips of the entire album when I'm feeling better - I didn't see any on Amazon.com a minute ago.): http://www.myspace.com/marcbroussard

[bloop]

I listened to The Fray once, and I was bored.  I had to decide whether it was painfully horrible, F-quality that deserves the kind of drubbing I would dish out for such a thing, or a D and forget it.  I listened more.  I think it's more worthy of a D, 2 stars.  Now let me forget it.

Next time:  From Virginia, Jason Mraz's We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things

[murlough23]

I listened to The Fray once, and I was bored.  I had to decide whether it was painfully horrible, F-quality that deserves the kind of drubbing I would dish out for such a thing, or a D and forget it.  I think it's more worthy of a D, 2 stars.  Now let me forget it.

Part of me wondered whether you'd think it was that bad, but then I had a difficult time imaging many things that were more bland than that. I guess I overestimated its level of suckitude, but hell, if Josh gave it 1 star...

Oh, and "Broussard" sounds kind of like a brassiere for a guy.

[bloop]

This Round:
8.75   bloop
7.5   murlough
7.5   Josh
7.5   Brendan
8.75   plvarona
9   Wanderer
7   ajyouthguy
8   Ninjarob

Totals:
22.5   bloop
23.75 murlough
20.5    Josh
20.5   Brendan
24.25 plvarona
20.4   ajyouthguy
21   Ninjarob
9   Wanderer

Wanderer takes the round.  Phil is in the lead overall.