Breathing Tornados |
Grandpaw Would |
Hey You, Yes You
While certainly not terrible, the new Ben
Lee has lost some of that homemade flavor that made his work
with Noise Addict and his early
solo work so endearing. Some call it maturity, but we call
it a guy trying to grow, but ultimately failing. He's obviously
trying to make smarter, more sophisticated music, but it comes
off as just more echoey and distant. The canned drumbeats, smoothed
out background vocals and almost world-sound feel of some of
the songs, while certainly coming off as more produced
ultimately ends up making everything sound the same and taking
the edge off any kind of emotional output. It's hard to sound
lovelorn with synthesizers and an 808. |
Ripe
It's hard to believe this is the same kid
from Noise Addict who wrote
such infectious little punk pop ditties. This is a guy who has
never (as far as I know) been busted buying crack in an alleyway
or thrown a woman from a balcony. He comes with very little
baggage, besides his relationship with Claire
Danes a few years back. He has avoided the child-star thing
and moved into a period in his music where his maturity is obvious--and
just a little bit dull. He kind of comes from the Lemonheads
school of pop song writing, mixing in some elements of Matthew
Sweet, Paul Westerberg
and I swear a touch of the Goo Goo Dolls (who were always written
off as a Replacements rip-off
anyway). There is absolutely no edge to his music. I mean he
does a cutesy doo-wop duet with Mandy
Moore on this album, for God's sake! He is squarely set
in the pop world, evacuating any pretense of rock 'n' roll whatsoever.
His songs are well constructed and sometimes touching, but ultimately
forgettable. Your mom wouldn't mind this album. Your little
pre-teen sister would like this album. It's friendly and soft
and everything that 70s pop was back when people liked that
kind of thing. It's just interesting to see that every teen
act coming out these days tries to have that emo edge, when
the original teen poster boy has mellowed so completely into
an adult contemporary petunia. |
Something to Remember Me By |
Musical Connections:
Noise Addict
|
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