Sound Bites

The Walkmen “Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is
Gone” Startime International

Britrock. Or is it? The Walkmen, which has a very British sound,
actually hails from New York. The band’s new album
“Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone,” is a
decent attempt at innovative rock music, but comes up short. Though
the group’s sound is different, it’s not necessarily
different in a good way. The Walkmen band members use the standard
instruments (guitar, bass, drums), but with the aid of a tape
machine, organs, and a few other interesting devices (sandpaper and
claves, to mention a few), they create an unorthodox, crass sound.
The lead singer, Hamilton Leithauser, sounds like a mix between
Bono and Rod Stewart. If Bono ate a sea urchin, Leithauser would be
the byproduct. The music itself is a bit grungy, but still
maintains a certain lightness with the percussion and organs. The
guitars use a lot of distortion and Leithauser’s raspy voice
provides a complement to the indie-type rock, but sometimes it just
gets annoying. The music isn’t always melodic, and the organs
and distorted electric guitars don’t work well together. The
album is not really worth listening to. If it’s free, check
it out, but it’ll still probably end up getting tossed
out.

Kenny Chang

Avant “Ecstasy” MCA Records

Pop music has formulas. This is a well-known fact.
Chicago-native Avant simply plugged his name into the
“Soulful-R&B -Love-Machine” equation and out came
his second album, Ecstasy. With his pouty lips and wistful eyes
gazing out from the CD cover, Avant’s look is reminiscent of
Usher and Maxwell. He sounds eerily like these lovesick crooners,
in addition to R. Kelly, D’Angelo, and even a little Isaac
Hayes or Boyz II Men. Singing about relationships and nothing
deeper for 13 tracks, the artist does not even complete an hour of
music. In his songs, Avant discusses topics such as his excellent
abilities in bed in “Makin’ Good Love” and his
cheating girlfriend in “You Ain’t Right.” The
highlight of the album, however, is the track entitled “Jack
& Jill,” in which he states, “Baby I’m Jack,
you can be Jill, I want to carry you up my hill.” Poetic
mastery aside, Ecstasy is a painfully common collection of groans,
grunts and moans meant to induce longing in women across the
nation. Nothing stands out as particularly good or bad about the
album. It is merely an average copy of what has been done before.
People who enjoyed R. Kelly’s or Usher’s last efforts
will most likely enjoy this as well. The vocals are deep and
sensual, the bass is strong, the beats are irritatingly repetitive,
and the lyrics are cheesy. The occasional rap sequence adds a tiny
pinch of flavor, but the attempt is in vain. Nothing will rescue
Avant from bland mediocrity, so he should just accept his fate and
perhaps be featured on a compilation of soul music along with his
formulaic singing buddies.

Shana Dines

Maktub “Khronos” Ossia Records

The brotherly genres of soul and R & B are blurred, and
decades are blended in Maktub’s appropriately titled album
“Khronos.” The members of Maktub have forged an album
full of soul, accented with modern day synthesizers and samples.
Reggie Watts, the lead vocalist and lyricist for this album, uses
his cool baritone voice to explore topics of love and hate in all
kinds of human relationships. Greek for “time”,
“Khronos,” may appear to be a pretentious title for
this album, but it has its purpose. Throughout the album, one can
hear the many different influences on each song. Songs like
“Baby Can’t Wait” recalls the days of Marvin
Gaye’s smooth, sexy, soul tunes. “Just Like
Murder” sounds more like a rocker heavy with guitars, a la
Lenny Kravitz, except with organs. It’s definitely one of the
more radio-friendly songs on this album. The eight-minute “No
Quarter” is rather drawn out and deviates from the rest of
the album with its psychedelic, mellow feel. But Maktub’s
variations in musical styles make “Khronos” a much more
interesting and enjoyable album. Maktub, which translates to
“It is Written,” in Arabic, has made an easy listening,
groovin’ album for the soul experimenter.

Christine Lee

Soul Center “Soul Center III” Mute
Records

“There’s some very interesting things going
on,” a voice declares right before the pulsating rhythm
begins in Soul Center’s standout track “A Good
One.” Indeed, there is something very interesting as well as
refreshing going on in the 11-track set. The third installment of
the Soul Center series maintains the minimalist techno philosophy
found in previous editions, but a ’70s funk influence is more
prevalent in this latest incarnation. Soul Center is merely one of
several disguises used by German electronica mastermind Thomas
Brinkmann, a.k.a. Ersnt, Ester Brinkmann, and Max. His brand of
stripped-down basic beats is a far cry from the bombast of Daft
Punk or the melody-laden material by Moby. The hip-hop stylings of
the Crystal Method and the Chemical Brothers are also nonexistent
in “Soul Center III.” One of Europe’s leaders in
dub-inspired techno, Brinkmann’s remixes, or
“variations” as he likes to call them, may be more
comparable to the works of Herbie Hancock. The album’s first
two tracks, “Funky Sterling” and “A Good
One,” seem straight out of a classic spy movie soundtrack.
Listeners then groove their way to the melancholy “Third
Hand.” Though hardly nightclub favorites, “I
Know” and “How Far Do You Wanna Go?” represent
the instrumental side of electronica. Brinkmann returns with a
winner in “Time,” a saxophone-infused number that takes
the listener back to the days of Miami Vice. The album finishes
with more experimental pieces like “Who’s My
Girl,” perhaps the closest thing to bone-crushing drum and
bass Brinkmann intends to offer. “Soul Center III” is
perfect for a nonstop drive along the Pacific Coast Highway.
Instead of a collection of individual dance floor romps, this
record creates a steady flow of tracks differing ever so slightly
from preceding ones. Brinkmann’s album is a must-have for all
fans of minimalist techno as well as music lovers tired of mindless
house mixes. Beauty in simplicity at its very best.

David Chang

Pepper “Kona Town” Volcom
Entertainment

What do you get when you mix Brad Nowell and Bob Marley with a
dash of some Less Than Jake? Pepper, a four-man group with a lead
vocalist that sounds like Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell and
tracks that combine the stony reggae vibes of Marley and the
light-hearted ska of Less Than Jake. After perusing the jacket for
this new album with the misleading title “Kona Town,”
it is obvious that the closest thing to the Blue Hawaii in
Elvis’ songs are the leis hanging on each band member’s
neck. Wearing khaki shorts and shirts and caps made by Volcom, the
entertainment company that endorses Pepper, it is no wonder that
the band members’ hometown is not Kona Town but Costa Mesa.
That is right, Orange County, Calif. Home of skateboards,
skateboard shops, and groups such as No Doubt, Sublime, and its
successor the Long Beach Dub All-Stars. The album opens with
“The Good Thing,” a track that takes about half a
minute to say that the “wonderful thing about Hawaii is Kona
Town,” yet after listening to the rest of the album it
becomes clear that the only wonderful things this band has seen is
the end of a bong and the white surface of a toilet. Disguised in
catchy tunes and the almost tranquil strumming of guitars, are
lyrics like “why won’t you have some dirty hot sex with
me” followed by interludes of girls moaning in the track
called “Give It Up.” With titles of songs such as
“Ho’s” and “Tongues,” it does not
take a genius to see what the inspiration was for this album.
Anyone looking for “spice” in their life, isn’t
looking for this album. It gets two paws to pick itself up and add
that something that is missing.

Monique Keshishian