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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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CD Reviews: The Wannabe Hasbeens and A Paper Cup Band
Wednesday 04 April @ 13:42:30 |
  The Wannabe Hasbeens
Former Trans Future Vol. 1
Self-released
myspace.com/wannabehasbeens
It was surprising to read their press release and learn that The Wannabe Hasbeens are a relatively new band. Though they've been playing their asses off around town for over a year now, scoring huge gigs through battle of the bands contests (opening for Ike Reilly and playing at the Basilica Block Party, for example) and popping up on gig calendars at nearly every local venue, Former Trans Future Vol. 1 is the band's first EP. Is it possible that a combination of their clever name and their accessible, finely-tuned rock songs had me convinced that the band was already headed down the road toward Washedupville, when they're actually just beginning?
I have no idea what the title means, but Former Trans Future Vol. 1 is a slick collection of six of the most basic rock songs I have ever heard and while lately it seems that gimmicks, distortion and loopy effects all but drown out attempts at actually rocking, being basic is a good thing. Keeping up a busy schedule of live shows has helped the band to produce a tight, seemingly effortless collaboration in the studio, and the tracks stretch from syrupy power ballads to heavy rock anthems that beg to be cranked up and enjoyed with a PBR and a fist pumping in the air. "Call Your Bluff" and "One More Night" are breezy and fun rockers, while the slow-burning "Anthem for a Late Bloomer" seems more appropriate for an arena rock concert than a local show at a neighborhood bar. Shaggy-haired frontman Christopher Heille has perfected his rock croon, and though his lyrics sometimes tend toward predictable rhyme schemes and cliches, he makes up for it with buoyant shout-singing and sarcasm. "Dumb music for smart people," their MySpace page declares, and for a listener in the mood to plug in and tune out, that doesn't sound half bad. ANDREA MYERS
 A Paper Cup Band
Midwestern Post-Sarcastic
Bastard Folk Records
apapercupband.com
There is something very familiar about A Paper Cup Band, and their first full-length album, Midwestern Post-Sarcastic, had me scratching my head through all 21 tracks, trying to place where I had heard them before. It occurred to me that the band has blended all of the sounds of the best popular indie rock bands of the last 10 years, and as a result, they have recorded an album that is extremely accessible. Lead singer and songwriter Andrew Jansen has a voice that channels Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Pavement's Steven Malkmus--his lyrical passages are short and punctuated and he speak-sings with a sort of affected warble. Though 21 tracks may seem excessive for a band's debut album, the tracks stay on the short side (one to two minutes) and allow the band to try out a multitude of different formats and styles.
The majority of the disc sounds like songs that might accompany a whimsical scene in a Wes Anderson movie; Jansen's lyrics take on a sort of childlike narrative at times and the tracks are punctuated by plucked guitar chords, banjos and the steady presence of a tambourine. Actually, there may be no better word to describe this imaginative new band than whimsical. Their songs carry an air of unscripted, uncensored creativity, with little bits of casual conversation at the beginnings and ends of some of the tracks. At times it seems more like a jug band sitting down for rehearsal than a collection of recording artists striving for sonic perfection. That sort of
flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants mentality allowed the band to produce a totally uninhibited work of creative art--and like most uninhibited art, not every track is golden, but it has allowed the band to take chances and expand on what could have been just another indie rock album to add to the growing stack. ANDREA MYERS
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