|
|
|
BANDS: Punk
& Ska INTERESTS: Venues ETC... About
LOTD
|
The Newbees:
Songs from a Dilapidated Apartment
I dont think Im alone in distrusting cute groups. Even though Mates of State vouchsafed married couples and the Fiery Furnaces covered siblings for another year, I find such groups weirdly cloying, especially if they dont have some scruffy guys. And the Newbees are definitely going for that cute thing. Theyve got the scruffy guys, sure, but those guys and a young lady are on the cover of their new album, Songs from a Dilapidated Apartment, playing videogames. Fortunately, their songwriting puts away gimmick band issues, but the CD is jarringly uneven. Apparently, the producer followed the fat kid-seesaw model of track sequencing: bring out the great songs first, and hope no one listens to the last six tracks. In that vein, the first and titular track makes the record seem like appealing couch rock: guitarist Jeff Perholtz sings of escaping a slacker pad. His description of the apartments furnishings immediately compensates for the bands misspelled name. Perholtzs wife, Misty Perholtz takes vocals for the next song, Maybe. Singing over a subdued piano, Perholtz says shes dancing with the energy of God. The song never gets back to that harmony, but its a bit of bar seduction. Mrs. Perholtz also does a fine job with 22, a song at once enchanted and disgusted with youth. Plus, its perfect for college graduation mix CDs. In 22, the band achieves its sometimes divergent goals: driving country and jaunty cynicism. The song continues the first tracks going nowhere theme with Got a job at the local record store/Flip through Spin and you sit on the floor. The other standout track, Mary, is at the line between good and bad songs. Although I have never lived in a rural area, I have been to rural Wal-Marts and seen stricken-looking men with their wives. Mary is a sort of I Will Survive for those men. It features the Newbees at their most cutting, with the lyric Who would have thought that youd cut your hair shorter than I do? But Mary also argues about sitcom fare like toothbrush placement. The album is filled with lyrics so easy and melodies so stultifying they make the listener feel guilty. For every 22, theres a Let Me Be, with this oh-so-cute line about government: Well sir youre such a drag, Ill always wave your big red flag. Similarly, the potentially clever VW Bus breaks down on unimaginative guitar and couplets straight from a rhyming dictionary. Songs from a Dilapidated Apartment is better than the average small-label release, yet it retains the varying quality and general lack of confidence of comparable albums. The songs that the Newbees get right are gotten very right, but the entire album has a two steps forward, one step back feel.
This album can be purchased at CD Baby About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
