This is a well produced, nicely packaged release from
Cleveland’s The Brazen Rogues. These guys play basic straightforward punk rock
- nothing ground breaking, but they do it well. The vocals are a bit rough but
for the most part suit the music fine. The tracks that stand out the most for
me are “Travisty” (sic), a punked up version of the Irish folk song “Rody
McCorly”, “Crazy”, and “Circle Pit”. The lyrics seem to be drawn from personal
experience and a number of songs deal with growing old in the punk scene
(“Getting Old Sucks”, the aforementioned “Circle Pit”). And for a band that has
sort of a party vibe when playing live there sure are a lot of songs about
hating various people and wanting to get medieval on their asses (“Volatile”,
“Me and a Baseball Bat”, “I Hate You”). In general I liked the songs about
being an old geezer much better than the ones about hitting people with baseball
bats. Your mileage may vary. (Bob Ignizio)
This will be a hard
one for me to review, as I've heard this all before from far too many bands that
sound exactly the same and have absolutely nothing new or different to offer and
probably never will. I don't want to be too harsh on the band but even
lyrically there's nothing exciting or different. Just the same old same old.
Personally, I could never listen to this. As a music fan and reviewer I try to
be honest and give credit where credit is due. Being open-minded and not
wanting to say something sucks. So this review will end here. (Mike Salamone)
The Cheats are a punk rock band from Pittsburgh. Musically
they draw from early seventies punk bands like The New York Dolls, The Stooges,
The Ramones, and The Rubber City Rebels (whose “Young and Dumb” the band covers
quite nicely). The lyrics appear to be mostly from personal experience and
deal with drug addiction, bad luck, and relationships gone sour. “Automatic
Reaction” opens the album with as fine a punk anthem as you could hope for,
followed by the equally excellent title track. “Just Like You” slows things
down a bit but still has plenty of attitude. “I Just Want to Tell You” and The
Ramonesy “Bombs Away” are also stand out tracks. The only tunes I didn’t like
were “5x Loser” which has a good chorus married to a mediocre verse and “Killin
Me” which didn’t. If this review doesn’t convince you to buy this album, see
the band live – they play Akron and Cleveland fairly often. (Bob Ignizio).
Decemberists - ‘Her Majesty the Decemberists’ (Kill Rock Stars)
I really can’t
believe that this is on Kill Rock Stars. The label once famous for it’s Riot
Grrrl politics and challenging bands like Unwound, Huggy Bear and Bikini Kill
has released it’s most accessible album ever. Which doesn’t mean it sucks, but
I can’t say it’s my thing. It starts off alright with “Shanty for the Arethusa.”
“Billy Liar,” however (greatmovie, bad song) starts the downward slide into the
avalanche that is “Los Angeles I’m Yours” a song with such a hackneyed harmonica
solo that it would make mid-eighties Stevie Wonder cringe. I can’t say I gave
the rest of the album much consideration after that. I kept hearing that banal
harmonica solo in my head and had to wash my ears out with some Cradle of Filth.
(Dave Ignizio)
This is a well produced, nicely packaged release from
Cleveland’s The Brazen Rogues. These guys play basic straightforward punk rock
- nothing ground breaking, but they do it well. The vocals are a bit rough but
for the most part suit the music fine. The tracks that stand out the most for
me are “Travisty” (sic), a punked up version of the Irish folk song “Rody
McCorly”, “Crazy”, and “Circle Pit”. The lyrics seem to be drawn from personal
experience and a number of songs deal with growing old in the punk scene
(“Getting Old Sucks”, the aforementioned “Circle Pit”). And for a band that has
sort of a party vibe when playing live there sure are a lot of songs about
hating various people and wanting to get medieval on their asses (“Volatile”,
“Me and a Baseball Bat”, “I Hate You”). In general I liked the songs about
being an old geezer much better than the ones about hitting people with baseball
bats. Your mileage may vary. (Bob Ignizio)
This will be a hard
one for me to review, as I've heard this all before from far too many bands that
sound exactly the same and have absolutely nothing new or different to offer and
probably never will. I don't want to be too harsh on the band but even
lyrically there's nothing exciting or different. Just the same old same old.
Personally, I could never listen to this. As a music fan and reviewer I try to
be honest and give credit where credit is due. Being open-minded and not
wanting to say something sucks. So this review will end here. (Mike Salamone)
The Cheats are a punk rock band from Pittsburgh. Musically
they draw from early seventies punk bands like The New York Dolls, The Stooges,
The Ramones, and The Rubber City Rebels (whose “Young and Dumb” the band covers
quite nicely). The lyrics appear to be mostly from personal experience and
deal with drug addiction, bad luck, and relationships gone sour. “Automatic
Reaction” opens the album with as fine a punk anthem as you could hope for,
followed by the equally excellent title track. “Just Like You” slows things
down a bit but still has plenty of attitude. “I Just Want to Tell You” and The
Ramonesy “Bombs Away” are also stand out tracks. The only tunes I didn’t like
were “5x Loser” which has a good chorus married to a mediocre verse and “Killin
Me” which didn’t. If this review doesn’t convince you to buy this album, see
the band live – they play Akron and Cleveland fairly often. (Bob Ignizio). 
I really can’t
believe that this is on Kill Rock Stars. The label once famous for it’s Riot
Grrrl politics and challenging bands like Unwound, Huggy Bear and Bikini Kill
has released it’s most accessible album ever. Which doesn’t mean it sucks, but
I can’t say it’s my thing. It starts off alright with “Shanty for the Arethusa.”
“Billy Liar,” however (greatmovie, bad song) starts the downward slide into the
avalanche that is “Los Angeles I’m Yours” a song with such a hackneyed harmonica
solo that it would make mid-eighties Stevie Wonder cringe. I can’t say I gave
the rest of the album much consideration after that. I kept hearing that banal
harmonica solo in my head and had to wash my ears out with some Cradle of Filth.
(Dave Ignizio)