British Sea PowerDo You Like Rock Music?Rough TradeThree out of five stars
By the homogenizing graces of pop radio, British Sea Power’s third full-length, Do You Like Rock Music?, will first strike its listeners as an across-the-pond combination of recent indie-darlings Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire. But listen on. As the nothing-new intro, “All In It,” subsides, the band reveals its roots in new and old Brit-pop tradition. Some tracks err toward such classics as Joy Division or The Cure and others toward modern celebs such as Coldplay, while production assistance from ex-Arcade Fire drummer Howard Bilerman shines bright. But in its authenticity, Do You Like Rock Music? fails to rock hard enough to win over any but the die-hard Brit-poppers.
City and ColourBring Me Your LoveVagrant/Dine Alone RecordsThree out of five stars
Coming from the carbon-copy “screamo” scene, Alexisonfire’s Dallas Green has crafted something surprisingly genuine with his acoustic project, City and Colour. Bring Me Your Love avoids the all-too-common Dashboard Confessional clichés in lieu of a mature folk sensibility on par with a pop-punkish Elliot Smith penning tunes for Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The record even strives for a Guthrie/Dylan maturity in “Body in a Box” and “Against the Grain.” Pop sensibilities lift Bring Me Your Love a bit too high for down-and-dirty folk legitimacy, but Green has a long, dusty road ahead and a beat-up, acoustic guitar case full of potential.
Blue OxWet Dreams & NightmaresLost ArchivesFour out of five stars
By definition, stoner rock bogs itself down in redundant, slow motion grooves. Many will dub the sludgy tones and southern feel of Blue Ox’s guitar riffing as stoner rock-ish, but Wet Dreams & Nightmares plays much more like a two-week, amphetamine-fueled bender of meth rock. High-speed, hardcore punk roots meet raw forms of Crowbar’s heavy, heavy metal while hints of gloomy, ’90s metalcore a la Bloodlet and Disembodied give the record a determined, sober tone. Wet Dreams & Nightmares masterfully straddles the line between bloodshot stoner rock and clear-eyed hardcore.