Ozma “Spending Time on the Borderline” Kung
Fu Records
We’ve all been there, at our most angst-ridden moments when
we need nothing more than the perfect power-pop melody and sweet,
disturbingly heart-breaking lyrics. And we’ve all gone to the
altar of Cuomo, Rivers Cuomo in our dark hours of need. Who
hasn’t thrown on one of Weezer’s first two albums just
to make themselves feel a little better, a little more universal?
Ozma certainly has, and they’re probably sick of the Weezer
comparisons, but this band featuring a couple of UCLA alums again
doesn’t manage to transcend its power-pop predecessors on
“Spending Time on the Borderline.” The melodies, builds
and timbre of the instruments for the most part, smack decidedly of
the big W. This is not to say that the album drowns itself in its
derivativeness. There’s a lot of cute power-pop here, and
while a lot of the songs could be a minute or two shorter and not
suffer, it’s all inoffensive and often fun. Ozma fans should
expect more of what they’ve come to appreciate, while the
uninitiated should probably pick up the Ben Kweller album instead.
He’s got the Weezer influence too, but his album is
significantly more vibrant. -Anthony Bromberg
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Fever to Tell” Interscope
Records
Even for those unfamiliar with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it just takes
one listen to the first long-player to make it clear that this is
Karen O’s band. The singer’s got more than just a
junkyard recording set up, she’s got a raw and seductive
voice that recalls a scrappy PJ Harvey, complete with the
occasional vocal freakouts. Even when the band locks into a groove
(rarely a problem), O’s is frazzled enough to stumble through
with the ramshackle energy that suits her and her band’s
style. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs ““ who had a good deal of buzz
created from a self-titled EP ““ at some points sound as if it
doesn’t have enough musical ideas to stretch out over the
length of an LP, but fortunately these moments don’t spring
up enough to dispel the amount of promise that the album holds. If
songs like the raucous and visceral “Date with the
Night” and “Black Tongue” are any indication, the
band isn’t just hopping on the NYC rock revival bandwagon. If
there were more singers as charismatic and charming as Karen O,
most wouldn’t give Julian Casablancas the light of day.
-Andrew Lee
Idlewild “The Remote Part” Capitol
Records
Isn’t it funny how British rock stars have thick accents
when they engage in interviews, but not when the mic is on and
they’re singing their hearts out? Well the Scottish
backgrounds of Idlewild are no more discernable behind singer Roddy
Woomble’s earnest croon, but the boys’ love of the
alternative rock popular here in the States is quite apparent. The
band members are a literate bunch, pulling out all the stops to
create an emphatic slab of a heartfelt, if somewhat generic
album-oriented rock. Mid-tempo ballads abound, but the band sounds
most interesting when they let loose and let their guitars do the
talking. -Andrew Lee