I expected Rogue Wave’s next album would be the one that broke them into the “big time.” With songs like the sweet “Eyes” on the Just Friends Soundtrack to “Lake Michigan” and the sublime “Chicago X 12″ on 2007′s Asleep at Heaven’s Gate it was obvious they were poised for success – just not the way it comes across on the new Permalight. Their sound is more polished and leans toward sensitive emo-pop. In fact, it is scary how much they sound like Death Cab for Cutie – I mean JUST like them. This isn’t necessarily bad because it isn’t a slavish knock-off, but I expected an evolution closer to the sound they already established.
The album starts with a gentle, whimpering vocal and acoustic guitar that feels like The Beatles, then the song, “Solitary Gun,” breaks out with a catchy, upbeat rhythm and the Death Cab vocals. The first single is “Good Morning (The Future)” and adds an electronic edge with synth and a backbeat that again harkens DCFC or the Postal Service. With every listen, the aforementioned resemblances melt away to expose a new sound and direction for Rogue Wave.
Tracks like “Sleepwalker,” “Fear Itself,” and especially “We Will Make a Song Destroy” hit hard. For me, these exemplify the sound I felt RW was crafting – taking their approach of simple, well constructed rock with a touch of melancholy and amplifying it. Permalight is an album that deserves more listens to breakthrough its initial impressions. The best albums always take awhile to sink in, right?
On another note, fans of the band, rockumentaries, or overall storytelling must check out D-Tour. What starts out as a chronicle of Rogue Wave and drummer, Pat Spurgeon’s battle with kidney disease and the trials of patients on the human donor list evolves into a poignant and humbling story that Hollywood wishes it could write. Rogue Wave was always on my radar, but this film was able to endear them to me.
Originally written for REAX Online, February 25, 2010
The Broken Bells, a collaboration of Danger Mouse and The Shin’s James Mercer, self-titled 
Although radio singles like “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” are not my favorite live Pumpkins songs, this is a thundering version from the 2000 Sacred and Profane Tour. It’s angry and fast and the tension within the band is palpable. The Atlanta stop was near the end of what was to be their final tour. “BWBW” is a crowd pleaser, but delivered in such an aggressive manner that it alienates strict radio fans. On this leg of the tour, the song was melded with The Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime.”¬† This wasn’t so much a cover as a launching pad for improvisational shredding and Billy’s maniacal free-form poetry. In Orlando at The Hard Rock Live, he stopped the show and ended a meandering 10 minute conversation with fans by making the crowd chant, “What the fuck is going on! What the fuck is going on!”
The Southern- tinged psychedelic, shoegazer band from Quebec – The Besnard Lakes – are back with their third album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night. The husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas develop their expansive Beach Boys in Space sound with an enchanting mix of pre-97 Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses, and early Broken Social Scene or even My Bloody Valentine. The pair’s dueling voices are equally beautiful and haunting while adding a certain melancholy to the layers of ambient guitar and synthesizer. The second song is the epic “Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent pt. 1: the Innocent.” It grows and swells from a murky synth and piano intro into Lasek’s spectral Brian Wilson; with each verse the song builds into the soaring vocal harmony of the chorus. “Like the Ocean” clocks in at around 7 and a half minutes and may be a severely grandiose gesture for an album that refines, but fails to eclipse, the sound and feeling achieved in their previous The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse.
Brooklyn by way of Florida band, Sleigh Bells, is a two-person “noise pop” act. This song, “Crown on the Ground,” pretty much sums up noise pop with its catchy melodies drowning in piles of distorted music and modulated vocals. They are a 2-person guy/ girl act – a less musical, more experimental White Stripes with Derek Miller (Miami’s Poison the Well) on guitar and the ferociously energetic Alexis Krauss doing the vocal work. They crushed audiences and critics during their 2009 CMJ performances and were hailed as one of the “undeniable breakouts” by Stereogum and Pitchfork among many others. It was recently announced in a Tweet by Diplo that Sleigh Bells are in the studio working with M.I.A on her next album.
Perennial purveyors of the rock ‘n roll rhythm and blues review, The Legendary Joint Chiefs will be playing the BackBooth this Saturday, February 6th. Eugene and the rotating cast of Chiefs bring their Stax Records meets James Brown brand of fun, funk, and soul – not a crappy nostalgia band, but a living, breathing, dancing, singing tribute to the glory of the Memphis early to mid 60′s sound – along with axeman Kevin Maines to the party. The Kevin Maines Band was overhauled with the addition of new members to add some funk, blues, and thunder to their southern jam sound. This is a can’t miss local event. 
