Boys Like Girls – Love Drunk (2009 Album)

Boys Like Girls hit the scene a few summers ago with their smash hit The Great Escape. They had minimal success with a few other songs, so now they release their second album. Love Drunk is available next Tuesday.

I had the pleasure (displeasure?) of getting my hands on this album a little early, just to see what Boys Like Girls had going for them.  I wish I had just not wasted the time.  The album is aweful.  It starts off with Love Drunk, which is really just a poor try to gain The Great Escape’s popularity.  It is followed by a slew of songs that are either a). overproduced b). contain lots of autu-tune c). sound exactly the same.  Basically the entire first half of the album is the same song on repeat.  They add something to this album that I am normally a huge fan of, bringing in a female singer to sing with the male to give the song that little extra bump.  However, when the male singer sings as high as the female, it defeats the purpose.  The only songs worth listening to are Shot Heard Round the World and Go. 2 of the last 4 songs.  I don’t know if I actually like those songs, or if because the rest of the album was so bad, these two stood out as just a little bit better.  I give this album 1.5/5 phreaks. (1 is the lowest it can go, I only give it the extra .5 because of those songs at the end).  Listen at your own discretion.

Boys Like Girls - Love Durnk

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Say Anything – Hate Everyone (2009 Single)

Check out the new Say Anything Single, Hate Everyone, at their website: http://www.sayanythingmusic.com/

Go Radio – Welcome to Life (2008 EP)

I am a big fan of Mayday Parade, so when Jason Lancaster moved on from them, I knew I would be checking out his new band.  Go Radio is what was created, and today I am reviewing their first, and only EP, Welcome to Life.

The first song, Forever My Father is slow, focusing on the vocals and the lyrics.  This is a good thing because the song is very powerful.  I believe it is about the death of a father.  He can’t imagine living with his father to help him out.  For someone who is so close to his dad, it really hits me hard to think about going on after he dies.  And I just needed you to pick me up like you did whenwe were younger.  When the lightning and the thunder had me clinging to your heart.  For someone to lift me up when I’m down and I’m forgotten, you’ll forever be my father.  Very good way to introduce the band to the world.  Now we have Welcome to Life, the song.  It picks up the pace on the EP with a very Mayday Parade song.  A little more Pop with a little less meaningful lyrics, it covers a whole different spectrum of emotions from the first song.  Dear Lucian Dance Forever…eh Auto-Tune. Lancaster doesn’t need Auto-Tune, why taint the EP with it? This song is about High School sweethearts who are only together because he has a lot of money, but she thinks his head is getting too big. Also, the guitar has a decent solo but I wanted a lot more from this song, step down on the ratings.  That California Song, this is just a great song.  She said Sing me a lullaby so sweet that the lights would stay away from me because my eyes see things they shouldn’t see. Help me. So I started to tremble out a verse, but my words weren’t lining up with her.  But then the way that she hurt was even worse than without me.  So I got high and I lost faith in a melody written for a girl when I had nothing left to hide, and then I cried.  I just wish he wouldn’t try to scream the lyrics. I understand that he is trying to get the point across, but it is overkill.  I Miss You is up next as the EP comes to an end. Now this is what I’m talking about. A little Pop, but not too much to overpower the great lyrics I have come to expect from anyone associated with Mayday Parade. This is my favorite song on the EP. Great job pulling it back together.  Last up is Ready Or Not.  End like you started with what you do best, slow and meaningful. Perfect ending song.

Overall, the beginning and end of the EP are good, but the middle lacks a little. I think the band has the roots to be very successful and I hope that they produce more and more good music as they grow.  However, I wanted more from this EP. I can only give it 3/5 phreaks, take out the middle and it would have been 4.

“And I miss the way we lived in our dreams”

Album Ratings

Because of my time off, I am going to list a bunch of albums and rate them without giving you a full review, then I will review a few more this weekend.

Every Avenue – Ah! EP 3/5

Every Avenue – Shh. Just Go With It 3.5/5

The Starting Line – Direction 3/5

Fall Out Boy – Folie A Deux 4/5

All Time Low – Nothing Personal 5/5

The Friday Night Boys – Off the Deep End 3.5/5

Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night 3.5/5

You Me at Six – Take Off Your Colours 4.5/5

Panic! At The Disco – Pretty. Odd. 2/5

Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown 3.5/5

My Absense

I’m sure anyone has realized that this blog has been inactive for a few months…Don’t worry, I am not dead!  I have been busy with work and needed to focus elsewhere for a while, but now that college is starting back up, I can come back to writing! Expect a slew of posts in the next few weeks, then a return to normalcy for the foreseeable future.

Until then, keep listening!

-MusicPhreak

Dave Matthews Band Free Download

Click on the link below to get a free single, Funny How It Is, from their upcoming album Big Whiskey.

http://www.davematthewsband.com/#/news/first-big-whiskey-single-funny-way-it-available-free-download

All Time Low – Weightless (2009 Single)

All Time Low has released a new single entitled “Weightless”, listen to it at their myspace!

Straylight Run (2004 Album)

Recently, I have really been digging the piano rock genre.  So I decided to go along with it and review Straylight Run’s self-titled 2004 album.  Forming off of Taking Back Sunday parts, this band has flown under the radar for a while, but I really am a fan.

Perhaps the most famous song by the band came from this album, Existentialism on Prom Night.  But more on that later.  This album uses the impressive vocals of John Nolan, accompanied by his sister Michelle, and the deep meaningful piano to make the songs last in your memory.  Most of the songs on the album are deep, serious, songs that make you think.  An exception to this is the second song on the album, The Tension and the Terror.  The song’s upbeat tempo plays nicely between the serious The Perfect Ending and Existentialism on Prom Night.  It is a song whose meaning is constantly debated.  I think it is about a guy who is past his college years, maybe thinking back to his high school sweetheart.  Reminiscing about prom and the morning after.  keeping it all going, this delicate balance, vulnerable, all knowing.  This part of the song is about the common belief that teenagers ‘know it all’ but in reality they are completely vulnerable to the world.  He is thinking about how she could have done anything and he wouldn’t have cared.  Then at the end of the song, it is back to reality.  We’re glad for what we’ve got, done with what we’ve lost, our whole lives laid out right in front of us.  That part of his life is over, he has the rest of his life in front of him, even if it is without her.  Next up is the song, Another Word For Desperate, which starts out with uplifting bass and piano and turns into a serious song focused again on the vocals, carried strongly by John and Michelle.  Mistakes We Knew We Were Making is one of the quieter songs on the album.  However, it is not as serious as some of the other songs have been.  Finally, we have Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway).  This song really draws me for some reason.  The singer gives directions to where he lives hoping a girl will find it, he’ll be waiting for her.  It’s a really beautiful song.

Overall, I think this is a really good album.  The piano and vocals really do it for me.  I find myself getting lost in my thoughts while listening to this music.  With being on buses a lot the last week, I really enjoyed listening to this album.  With that said, it doesn’t have me hooked like some of my favorite albums I’ve already covered.  At some points I want more upbeat music than this album offers.  I am torn on how to rate this one.  I want to give it a 4, but it just isn’t on the same level as those albums, so I will give it a 3.5/5 phreaks (but in my mind it will be about a 3.99, it is right on the edge).

“I die trying just to keep myself from kissing you”

Straylight Run – Existentialism On Prom Night

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Holiday Parade – Tickets & Passports (2009)

Holiday Parade is a band I found on Myspace and really began to like.  Today they released their album, Tickets & Passports and I figured i would give them a review.  This will be the first time I review an unsigned band, so I hope it gets them some exposure!

The first song on the album is Getaway, a song they’ve had on their myspace page for a while now.  It has a nice, happy feel to it.  I think the song is about a girl that you’ve been with for a little while and she is really starting to grow on you.  The end of the song is about the moment when you realize you want to be with her long term.  Time For Me keeps the good feeling Pop songs coming.  I really like the piano in this song.  It’s a song about moving on. You won’t come back to haunt me, you won’t.  Nothing Personal is up next on this album, the songs are growing on me.  I really like the sound they have.  This song is about a girl trying to get over a guy, from the guy’s perspective.  Maybe she made a mistake, and she is trying to take him back.  Before you’re ready for someone else, you gotta learn to be alright by your self.  You think you’re leaving me on that shelf but, I’m all right.  She keeps trying to make him remember how good it was when they were together, maybe she is beginning to convince him, Too bad your hands are full, it’s nothing personal.  Tickets & Passports, the song, slows it down a little bit. The song is very emotional and is a very good way to end the album.

Overall, I thought it was a good album.  However, I wanted something more from it.  I feel like the lyrics fell short in most of the songs, but it is good enough to get a solid fan base in my mind.  I hope the next album uses the successes in this one, the lead singer and the piano rock, and beefs up the lyrics to really flex their muscles.  Overall, I will give it 3/5 phreaks.

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