Multi-part harmonies and other vocal interplay tricks have always been one of the more appealing aspects of Sunderland, England-raised four-piece The Futureheads‘ post-punk sound (alongside the band’s love for lightning-quick tempos), so it’s nice to see them putting those talents to such great use on this Live Lounge-premiered rendition of Kelis’ comeback dance hit “Acapella”.
Cleverly done in a vocals-only style (heh-heh, “Acapella” done a capella) that recalls the corner-set doo-wop rounds of pop days past, The Futureheads’ reading provides an infectious listen that may even be best the original, if only because their stripped-down treatment gives the song’s lovely lyric (centered on the wondrous bliss newfound love, through either a new child or romance partner, can bring to one’s life) the centric attention it didn’t necessarily have when tucked within the original’s Ibiza-baiting electro pulses.
After all that “backing boy musicians are angry because female lead gets all the attention” drama that nearly split the group apart (a brush-up on No Doubt’s history should have really been a requisite project for these kids) and a detour into the dark and vampiry on the Evanescence-esque Twlight single “Decode”, how refreshing what is to hear Paramore kick off their upcoming junior set brand new eyes with “Ignorance”, a return to the irresistably peppy/ catchy pop-rock formula that made them the breakout act of 2007.
Yeah, it might not sport an immediately cherishable, greater-than-great hook of a “Misery Business” or “Crushcrushcrush”, but you can’t deny the sugary addictiveness of all it’s guitar thrash, heavy bass chug and rapid fire drum work nor the charismatic force known as Hayley Williams snarl-wailing her heart out atop it all.
Last week, the band entered the Live Lounge studios for a two-song live gig and, as they’ve proven with acoustic readings of a lot of their previous material, Paramore made “Ignorance” sound just as good, if not better. With the urgent intensity of the original’s thunderous rawk rage nicely re-imagined through some quickly-flitting acoustic guitar pickings and Williams commiting a more restrained vocal performance heightened by hoarsened peaks, the song manages to grasp an even stronger emotional wallop, as if the inter-band strife documented in the razor sharp lyrics is a currently festering issue rather than a tribulation of the past.
Catch the performances of both “Ignorance” and, yes, yet another amazing female-led cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” below.
It’s kind of odd that a couple of days after their Tough Love label hypes the free-share of their studio-recorded cover of Daft Punk’s “Digital Love”, Sheffield indie pop band the Situationists announce their break up, but hey, there’s nothing like going out on a high we guess, which is precisely what this remake is.
Trading the original‘s smiley dance glow for an infectious punk-ish rambunctiousness, the Situationists provide some impressive instrumental intricacies here that catch hold of a great pop feel on more than one occasion (Of particular note is that brilliant breakdown section).
It’s definitely the better of the decent, but not fully satisfying, “Digital Love” covers we’ve already heard from otherbands (and don’t tell anyone, but we might even like it a little more over the original), which only makes it sadder that we probably won’t be hearing anything more from this band.
Good Charlotte reigned as “TRL” titans in the early oughts, replacing the macho frat musings of Limp Bizkit and dark metal-pop diary entries of Korn as the countdown show’s preferred choice of rock. A precursor to the Fall Out Boys and Panic!’s that would later take over the throne, Charlotte depended on the cutesy factor (multi-pierced, eye-lined twin brothers) and a keen self-awareness that tended to revolve around irony (“Punk”/pop-sters dabbling in rap hooks? Chris Kilpatrick in their videos?) and the idiocy of social classism.
But even though everything they spit out would almost automatically hit #1 or somewhere near it on the MTV flagship program, you always got the suspicion that the boys yearned for something a little more credible to make the critics believe they were doing this for more than just the kiddie votes. Needing to appear matured, the music grew more intense and serious, but the lack of playfulness made them less interesting and their fanbase moved on to new bands who understood the value of humor. On their fourth album, Good Morning Revival, Charlotte feel even more lost, scrabbling at trends in hopes that something will stick.
In place of the laughable “LA is bad” rhetoric of “The River”, Charlotte chose the far more interesting “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl” as Revival‘s lead single overseas. It’s probably the band’s best step in a cool direction but they drop the ball by not giving in to the loopiness of it all, a trait that made them passively likable before.
A clashing of loud German industrial metal with snotty Euro-punk attitude, the song once again finds GC indulging in their obsession of different sections of society coming together. Following an “opposites attract” theme, “Keep Your Hands…” sets up an “OC”-inspired scene of a cocky punk god with brass knuckles hanging from his neck in his chain turning on a heiress decked out in Dior and Chanel from across the club floor. All this is to the detriment of the annoyed boyfriend standing by her side, noticing the sexual tension going on (“And the hipster keeps mugging on me all night long”). The thunderous exclamatory hook, taken from the silent eye threats of the boyfriend, bellows like an alarm (“KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY GIRL!/ KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY GIRL!”).
It’s an intriguing love triangle set-up that Good Charlotte neatly flesh out by relying on sterotyped character descriptions to push the idea that these are different people from different worlds. But you almost wish Charlotte would’ve tried a little harder to showcase this as a joke. The dark textures, loudspeaker vocals and product placement songwriting depict this as the perfect spoof, and though you get the sense that the boys are trying being clever, there’s no wink-wink signifer noticeable.
Coming from Charlotte, who’ve never ventured into this sort of disco-metal before, this would’ve been a winning ploy to remain true to their past output while also briefly exploring new soundscapes and deprecating their own personal lives (don’t act you like you understood the union of the grungy Joel Madden and squeaky clean Hillary Duff). Instead the listener must connect too many dots on their own for the comedy to work, bringing the conclusion that Good Charlotte seem to have no idea what they’re doing.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
*
Come on, use Amazon or iTunes and help support your favorite artists so they can continue to give us the great sounds we love.
*
(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
Multi-part harmonies and other vocal interplay tricks have always been one of the more appealing aspects of Sunderland, England-raised four-piece The Futureheads‘ post-punk sound (alongside the band’s love for lightning-quick tempos), so it’s nice to see them putting those talents to such great use on this Live Lounge-premiered rendition of Kelis’ comeback dance hit “Acapella”.
After all that “backing boy musicians are angry because female lead gets all the attention” drama that nearly split the group apart (a brush-up on No Doubt’s history should have really been a requisite project for these kids) and a detour into the dark and vampiry on the Evanescence-esque Twlight single 
It’s kind of odd that a couple of days after their 
Recent Comments