Smith Westerns: hype over substance

 Not much Thinking has been going on here lately, and very little Noise has been heard to say the least. I must admit it is kind of shameful and slightly embarrassing coming from a new blogger who promised to keep things exciting... but you know, let's stay positive. Let's go ahead and pretend that nothing happened (hey, that's actually true!). I just didn't feel like writing about anything, so why try so hard? You probably also noticed that 2011 is not what you would call a musical explosion so far. Even the NME is busy reviewing stuff that came out three months ago.

 But things should pick up very soon. For now, the Smith Westerns album is finally out after weeks of non-stop propaganda from just about every indie blog out there. So, is it any good? Well, yes and no. Like many over-hyped records it is rather underwhelming at first but to be fair there are some fine songs on "Dye It Blonde". Their fuzzy 70's riffing pleasantly recalls the classic T-Rex sound, although it does turn into a gimmick at times and gets a little bit irritating in places - especially when the songwriting isn't as good as on lead single "Weekend". But it's easy to see why kids all love that band: they're young enough to speak for a new generation, their first effort was original, raw and catchy and now they're coming back with a "bigger" record filled with jangly guitars and sweet pop hooks. Everything a teenage alternative rock fan could want, like The Strokes, The Libertines or Arctic Monkeys in the past decade. That said, I seriously doubt "Dye It Blonde" will end up being regarded as the new "Is This It?", mainly because there are too many weak points on the album. They do recycle sounds from the past with a youthful and entertaining modern twist, but their music feels too juvenile and superficial overall to be remembered as classic material. Still, it's a pleasant listen - nothing more, nothing less.    

Weekend

 Now that I have bitched about the young and pretty it's time to praise the work of veterans like Wire, who just recently put out their best effort in years, "Red Barked Tree". I wasn't particularly looking forward to that release but it truly is great... more about it in the next post.