October 25, 2007 Music » Sound Advice

Beirut, Coheed & Cambria, Jimmy Eat World

Sound Advice 

Beirut, Coheed & Cambria, Jimmy Eat World

Tools

click to enlarge Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light - Interscope - Sounds like: It's a dim Jimmy Eat emo-lite, alt-rock World - Short take: Jimmy Eat World chases its tail, again - Really, the question is what do you want out of Jimmy Eat World? Casual fans waiting for another "The Middle," the anthemic 2002 track that transformed this Arizona-based emo act into alt-rock hitmakers, shouldn't waste their time with the group's latest studio effort Chase This Light. The new disc, which bounces between emo inclinations ("Big Casino" and "Electable") and pop-ish alt-rock ("Let it Happen" and "Here it Goes"), suffers from a nondescript feel. Many tracks run together in an easily forgettable fashion. Currently the best part of Chase This Light is its placement on my iPod, with Joe Cocker's classic "Feelin' Alright" alerting me to the fact Jimmy Eat World's album is over. Let's hope the same can't be said about the group's career. John Benson

  • Jimmy Eat World

    Chase This Light

    Interscope

    Sounds like: It's a dim Jimmy Eat emo-lite, alt-rock World

    Short take: Jimmy Eat World chases its tail, again

    Really, the question is what do you want out of Jimmy Eat World? Casual fans waiting for another "The Middle," the anthemic 2002 track that transformed this Arizona-based emo act into alt-rock hitmakers, shouldn't waste their time with the group's latest studio effort Chase This Light. The new disc, which bounces between emo inclinations ("Big Casino" and "Electable") and pop-ish alt-rock ("Let it Happen" and "Here it Goes"), suffers from a nondescript feel. Many tracks run together in an easily forgettable fashion. Currently the best part of Chase This Light is its placement on my iPod, with Joe Cocker's classic "Feelin' Alright" alerting me to the fact Jimmy Eat World's album is over. Let's hope the same can't be said about the group's career. John Benson

click to enlarge Coheed & Cambria - No World For Tomorrow - Columbia - Sounds like: Coheed's homage to Rush - Short take: Less sci-fi means a more compelling Coheed - In case you wondered how a new millennium version of Rush would sound, Coheed & Cambria's latest effort No World For Tomorrow, the fourth and final installment of its apocalyptic storyline offers such insight. Unlike previous Coheed efforts, often bogged down in convoluted prog rock stylings, No World For Tomorrow is the band's most focused, commercially viable album to date. Easily the best track on the album is "Feathers," which combines a classic-rock sensibility with an anthemic feel that could make it a radio hit for decades to come. Singer Claudio Sanchez, whose timbre range is similar to Rush's Geddy Lee, leads the song through choppy guitar licks with insidiously catchy and breezy vocals. Ultimately, songwriting maturity makes it a brighter tomorrow for Coheed & Cambria. John Benson
  • Coheed & Cambria

    No World For Tomorrow

    Columbia

    Sounds like: Coheed's homage to Rush

    Short take: Less sci-fi means a more compelling Coheed

    In case you wondered how a new millennium version of Rush would sound, Coheed & Cambria's latest effort No World For Tomorrow, the fourth and final installment of its apocalyptic storyline offers such insight. Unlike previous Coheed efforts, often bogged down in convoluted prog rock stylings, No World For Tomorrow is the band's most focused, commercially viable album to date. Easily the best track on the album is "Feathers," which combines a classic-rock sensibility with an anthemic feel that could make it a radio hit for decades to come. Singer Claudio Sanchez, whose timbre range is similar to Rush's Geddy Lee, leads the song through choppy guitar licks with insidiously catchy and breezy vocals. Ultimately, songwriting maturity makes it a brighter tomorrow for Coheed & Cambria. John Benson

click to enlarge Beirut - The Flying Club Cup - Ba Da Bing! - Sounds like: A slide-show soundtrack - Short take: Itinerant musician settles down in France - Beirut's albums are musical travelogues, documenting Santa Fe-native Zach Condon's many visits and globetrots. His first LP, Gulag Orkestar, found him in eastern Europe, where he adapted his band's sounds into a remarkably legit collection of Slavic melody, often accordion- and trumpet-led. He has traveled to western Europe for his sophomore effort, The Flying Club Cup. Its 13 songs are still vignettes of place, indelibly informed by the where, and, this time, he's based largely around France, with his work sounding all the more Gallic for it. He's traded horns for strings and his bravado is bottlenecked into a pensive singsong. He still sounds strangely familiar in his new milieu, though. It's like he's gotten back to a place of childhood rather than simply finding a new dot on a wrinkled map. Matt Martin
  • Beirut

    The Flying Club Cup

    Ba Da Bing!

    Sounds like: A slide-show soundtrack

    Short take: Itinerant musician settles down in France

    Beirut's albums are musical travelogues, documenting Santa Fe-native Zach Condon's many visits and globetrots. His first LP, Gulag Orkestar, found him in eastern Europe, where he adapted his band's sounds into a remarkably legit collection of Slavic melody, often accordion- and trumpet-led. He has traveled to western Europe for his sophomore effort, The Flying Club Cup. Its 13 songs are still vignettes of place, indelibly informed by the where, and, this time, he's based largely around France, with his work sounding all the more Gallic for it. He's traded horns for strings and his bravado is bottlenecked into a pensive singsong. He still sounds strangely familiar in his new milieu, though. It's like he's gotten back to a place of childhood rather than simply finding a new dot on a wrinkled map. Matt Martin

Sound Advice archives »

  • Beirut, Coheed & Cambria, Jimmy Eat World

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS

Add a comment

Latest in Sound Advice

Popular Events

Most Commented On

Top Viewed Stories

COLORADO SPRINGS INDEPENDENT: Home | Jobs @ the Indy | Privacy Policy | Advertising | | Find a Newstand | Comment Policy | Contact Us | RSS

All content © Copyright 2013, The Colorado Springs Independent   |   Website powered by Foundation