Throughout the history of rock music, musicians have left a legacy of legendary (and sometimes forgettable) signature moves. Today I try to tackle some of the more memorable ones, from the eccentric to the face melting. Follow the jump for the full list.
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We all have our hobbies. Whether it be collecting records, knitting, or making graffiti stencils, we all have something that steals away our time and makes the monotony of everyday life a little more bearable. But sometimes our hobbies consume too much of our time or, God forbid, our hobbies become just as monotonous as our day job. You must take a step back and to see what you loved about that hobby in the first place.
For this Friday Top Five we will take a look at several bands that have for one reason or another taken a break. These bands have never formally broken up; they have just gone on extended hiatus.
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What? You still listen to THAT album? That record is so 2004! Well, that’s okay, because we really like that one too, which is why we decided to come up with a list of our favorite albums of the last decade (2000-2009). Sure, these might not be YOUR favorite records, or the most critically acclaimed, but we sat down and really thought out every record from the past ten years that we keep coming back to in our collections. You’re likely to disagree with some of these, and we won’t tell you we’re absolutely right we just know that these happen to be OUR favorites. If you think we totally blew it here, feel free to tell us so, but be nice, as our egos are kind of fragile. Follow the jump for more.
The Von Bondies crept out of the massive Detroit scene on the heels of The White Stripes. They were well versed in the garage stylings known to their locale. But, then they flipped the switch on us. They followed up their debut with a more straightforward album, and now they completely leave it all behind as they present us with Love, Hate and Then There’s You.
From the minute this album takes off with “Shut Your Mouth” you can tell that the entire group has begun pushing towards new ground. Sure, this opening track still revels in the garage-infused sound of old, but something new exists here, something that could lose fans while gaining scores of new ones. It’s the pop element.
Singer Jason Stollsteimer definitely has a brooding crooner quality, which recalls the vocal quality of a certain Mr. Flowers. It’s not entirely surprising when listening to the rest of this album, as the mood of the songs easily matches the aesthetic quality of Jason’s voice.
In a sense, the band comes off like a hard-edged version of The Killers. This isn’t too say that the band has entirely left behind their past in favor of a more commercial appeal to the masses. ”Only to Haunt You” has the feeling of dark swirling pop melodies that garnered acclaim for the aforementioned band. Still, the band holds on to the darker element of this genre, fueled by the precise rhythm section. This batch of songs is clearly the most accessible set of tunes they’ve created up to this point, and the culmination of this point may be welcomed by many.
All the songs are short, and they hit your ears quickly. Occasionally, the vocals are matched with feuding vocal elements from Jason’s female counterpart, which give the band a bit of grit, though they never stray to far from the middle of the road. Therein lies one of the problems with this record: nothing here sounds entirely new to the listener. This isn’t mean to knock on the band entirely, as its quite difficult to produce purely original sounds nowadays, but this just seems a bit to easy for the band. At times the songs seem a bit uninspired, almost as if the band were just throwing about demos inside their studio.
Strong moments do exist throughout the entirety of this record, such as on “Accidents Will Happen.” Here you find the and bouncing along appropriately, as guitars jangle. But, you’ll also find a certain rawness to the vocals, which show that Von Bondies still like to stay close to home. They can’t seem to move on from their own history.
In the end, you find a band wavering on a middle ground, stuck between a poppier quality that is bubbling beneath the surface and their classic garage sound. Many will find that the pop elements warrant approval, while others will relish in the fact that the band could definitely hit it a lot harder. You decide.
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Download: Von Bondies – Only to Haunt You [MP3]
Our Canadian friends the Pack AD have a new song for you enjoyment. The song is called “Making Gestures” and come from the bands soon to be released Funeral Mixtape due out on August 12th. They sort of sound like a cross between The White Stripes & The Black Keys with a girl singing. Read more about them over on that all to familiar social network.
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Download: makinggestures.mp3
©2010 Austin Town Hall, a venture of Paravel
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