Music Review: Peter Bjorn and John - Seaside Rock (2008)

Vocals with proper lyrics? Not checked. Cohesiveness? Unchecked. Peter Bjorn and John obviously wanna get WTFs in album reviews for their latest serving. Can't figure out what to do with some less dense or unattractive music? To my horror, they "solved" that by adding some people muttering about. And when traces of singing is heard in the otherwise sweet "Say Something", you can't help but snigger at the effort.

However, the true gems of this album are "Favour of the Season" (think a jazz number with scaled down bpm to great soothing vibes) and the calm yet epic "Barcelona". Opener "Inland Empire" makes you wonder if it is actually a tribute to a certain David Lynch flick.

You may be baffled or amazed that these Swedish folks would go up the wall to wanna audaciously construct this record. But c'mon, I'm sure they can do better than Seaside Rock. Gravitational force will drag the pebble down based on the cover art. The question is: How low can this album's rating go?

25%

Music Review: Subtle - ExitingARM (2008)

In terms of melody, ExitingARM does offer plenty. Effects are scattered but inconsistently effective. Adam "Doseone" Drucker, Jordan Dalrymple and Dax Pierson have some neat tricks for vocal outputs. "The Crow" and a few other tracks possess pop characteristics here and there.

"Hollow Hollered" has a nice beat to it (think TV on the Radio's "I was a Lover" but with additional drum rolls). There is an obvious connection between "Hollow Hollered" and "Wanted Found": A hypnotic acoustic arpeggio towards the end (The latter contains Arabic flute tunes and garage drum trashing that further put listeners into trance.)

Subtle sure has a knack for human skull as evident in "Sick Soft Perfection" and the title track in which one of the vocalists sings "Would you skin your skull to draw its strength?".

However, it is a false siren. ExitingARM lacks a certain lasting musical chemistry with its listeners. It doesn't compell me to feel that excited or be moved. This record sure hits the right notes in drawing the attention of listeners initially but it scores low points in terms of relistenability.

65%