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Gem Club’s new album is beautiful, delicate, simple, and unfortunately very monotonous and boring. Individually, each of the songs on this album are great. Each song rolls over you (insert crappy metaphor) and appeals to your spirit of calmness and beauty. Overall, I can’t think of a single song that I don’t enjoy on the entire record. The problem is that the songs sound very (very) similar and when played straight through as an album the songs just all sound the same. There is no tempo change, no dynamic sonic shifts on this album. The piano is played they same way (pretty much just chords) the entire album – sparsely. Christopher Barnes’s voice rarely registers above a whisper and the percussion is minimal. Added all together it becomes difficult, even after becoming familiar with the songs, to identify where one song ends and the next begins.

This album would be the perfect addition to any playlist (set on random) but played together as a whole it’s just not interesting enough or dynamic enough to keep your attention and keep you in moment.

Ben Folds played the Rialto in Tucson. It was somewhat crowded and hot. I think it’s time the Rialto invested in a better cooling system..

Ben (as I like to call him) was energetic and talkative. He told a lot of stories, talked a lot about sweating & completely nerded out at least twice. He’s a charming story teller and it’s clear that he loves what he does.

For me, the show as bittersweet. It reminded me why I fell in love with Ben Folds 15 years ago – catchy, eccentric lyrics, energetic melodies, interesting composition, nerdiness. But his new stuff just isn’t as good, and Ben knows it. The crowds tell him every night.

The crowd in Tucson was clearly like me – there because they had been Ben Folds fans for more than 10 years and wanted to see him nerd-out on the piano. When they played new songs “Levi Johnston’s Blues,” ‘Effinton” and “Sleezy” (his YouTube famous Ke$ha cover), the crowd cheered and bopped. Those songs are good, but they’re glorified pop, playing to the lowest common denominator, and that’s now why we feel in love with Ben Folds. Ben Folds made you think and wrote quirky songs that captured a situation or emotion you didn’t think could be put into music.

And so when “Effington” ended, we stood wondering when he’d play “Army” or if he’d play “Emaline.”

And he did, and we all stood and sweat and smiled.

So, for whatever reason, I decided to do a little something different with my review of They Might Be Giants new album Join Us. I decided that I wanted to do a haiku review. Hey, that rhymes. But rhymes have no place here. This is an experiment, so hopefully it works. Here we go…

“Join Us” for good times,
Like dipping your balls in mayo,
No, that’s a good thing.

I generally view albums like this (acoustic albums) as gimmicks. I put them in the same category as anthologies and cover albums. Something easy to put out there for the sole purpose of making money. And as such, I rarely take the time to listen to these types of albums and almost never buy them.

That said, I do kinda like this album. And please note the use of the word “kinda” there.

This album, acoustic versions of older Alkaline Trio songs, is good but there are no surprises here. The band does at least take some time to rework the songs so they sound good in this arrangement and the production is interesting. For the most part, the songs sound pretty well thought out and not just thrown together on the cheap and easy. The songs are layered with production and the depth of each song is actually surprising.

The real problem here is that these are all songs that exist on other albums and most of them are really great songs in their original form. So when it comes down to it, I’d rather listen to the original, electric version of “Private Eye” then this new acoustic version. And while the new version of “Radio” is kinda neat, there is an energy and emotional drive in the original version that just doesn’t exist here.

If you are a fan of Alkaline Trio you might enjoy this but if you are new to the band I’d recommend picking up the original version of each and every one of these songs.

Uh oh! There are electric guitars on the new City and Colour album, Little Hell. That, combined with a richer and deeper production will certainly have some people crying foul and tossing out phrases like “I liked City and Colour when they were low-fi” or “I don’t like the new album. It’s too ‘radio.” I, personally, do not have any of those feelings. But at the same time, this album, while good, isn’t as good as the last two City and Colour albums.

Dallas Green, the main man behind City and Colour, is really stretching his wings here and embracing his songwriting on a much more grand scale. And I don’t blame him. Simple songs on acoustic guitar are great and all but why not mix it up some friends and a couple new sounds? That’s what I would think if I were him and I’m sure he thought some similar things.

The bottom line here is that this is a good album of mellow(ish) pop-songs with the same City and Colour emotional depth that we’ve come to enjoy. The ballads are great and this time out Green has incorporated some electric guitars to broaden his sound. The best songs here are still the acoustic ones (“O’ Sister,” “Grand Optimist” and “Northern Wind”) but the more energetic and electric songs really help to make this album a more entertaining and varied listen.