The Critical Asshole: Listening to...

Sounds like a novice melting pot of indie-rock cliches. The Grates, a lo-fi 3-peice act from Australia blend a bit of kid-like wannabeism with oddly mixed guitar and drums for what shall surely be "the next big thing." I know I listened to this late at night, but I honestly couldn't figure out who vocalist Patience Hodgson is trying to imitate (or fool). It's listenable and I hope for their parents' retirements sake that their debut Gravity Won't Get You High has a smaller reading on the embarassing meter. Seriously guys...seriously. If you want a date to the dance, just be yourself.

It's little soft, but...

...the elements of a good, listenable album here. Seriously.

I went ahead and bought the single “Gold Lion” from the iTunes music store. You know what? It's pretty dry—and not in a good British food type of way. On first listen I had the same guttural reaction a reasonable person would have after listening to a praise and worship band at a Baptist church in Texas: dirty in a kind of acceptable way. So what? The single sucks, but fans of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs aren't single-minded anyways; or at least they shouldn't be.

The distinctly and uncannily polished sound on the band's sophomore effort is attributed to Sqeak E. Clean (brother of YYY frontwoman Karen O's former beau) whom Karen O. collaborated for the haunting Addidas TV ad hit “Hello Tomorrow,” and Alan Moulder (who gained notoriety for his production of My Bloody Valentine's “Loveless”). And so the great debate roils on: clean vs. raw, or as my friend Nick would say “Does it Rock, or does it Roll?” My bias leans heavily toward YYY's major label debut “Fever to Tell” in all of it's hipster, NYC art school loveliness. I think part of appeal of garage rock is the assurance that it is something that the nearest adult figure in your life would crinkle their nose at.. There's just no crinkle factor here.

While I (or more importantly you) might not hold this in your treasure trove of favorite albums—the stack you pull from to impose your musical tastes upon your friends via mix tape or Party DJ Takeover, it is by all accounts a “good” album. All of our favorites are still here: Zinner's guitar still roars and moans like a premenstrual banshee. Brian Chase's so-simple-it's-genius drumming still charms, and Karen O's vocals, while a bit more subdued and limited in range, still retain the same element of tenderness that sold us on Fever to Tell's hit single “Maps” in the first place.

Advisory note to YYY fans: Don't sweat the small stuff. Just because it doesn't sound “quite right” doesn't mean it's a bad album. It's different. Isn't that the reason that your parents said you were special?

A few tracks of note:

“Phenomena” - Sexy, stylish and hard. Kind of like Marilyn Monroe meets Eastern Europe.
“Honeybear” - Destined to be a fan favorite at the live show. The danceably Spanish chorus tune will make you shake your fist (in a good way).
“Cheated Hearts” - Plain Jane Indie Rock can't get any better.
“Dudley” - Delicate and sweet like “Maps” with unoriginal lullaby melody.

Generic Indie-Pop for Generic Indie-Pop Fans

Rebounding off his freshman “where the hell did this guy come from” success, Zach Rogue and friend(s) deliver up a spinning platter of unoffensive indie-pop non-classics. Nothing here seems to be groundbreaking, but alas, breaking ground does not necessarily make for good listening (another argument for another time). All the great elements of a hipster-indie album are here: Grandiose production (as opposed to “Out of the Shadow” which was delightfully sparse in instrumentation ), perfectly crafted, nonsensical lyrics, and adequate to decent sense of pace and change to the album to keep it from entirely putting the listener to sleep.

At best “Descended Like Vultures” is mood music, at worst it's background schlock for your local Starbucks. Traditionally, second releases are a bit weak, but they usually set a great springboard for the third album.

“Bird On A Wire” - morbid circus themed song makes for great opening track.
“Publish My Love” - Sounds like the “big track of the album” if only there was some sort of coherent theme between the verse and the chorus: “You could never publish my love.”
“California” - Any song that starts with “Screw California...” is a winner in my book.
“You” - Epic, lilting tune. Wonderfully vague and romantic “One day I found you.” Sections of the tune effortlessly flow into one another.